


Hell Hounds

by Draugyr



Category: The AM Archives (Podcast), The Bright Sessions (Podcast)
Genre: Gen, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Themes, Therapy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-11
Updated: 2019-12-07
Packaged: 2021-01-27 16:37:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 30,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21395320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Draugyr/pseuds/Draugyr
Summary: Devon Valentine is an atypical and new patient of the newly made Director Joan Bright. Devon and his siblings have met horrific abuses overseas, and he is ready to talk about them.
Kudos: 7





	1. You Aren't a Prisoner Here

"This is an interesting case." The voice spoke quietly into her audio recorder. Director Joan Bright of the East Coast AM had only recently settled into the position, dealing with the immediate strife following her elevation to the position. In order to take a more delicate approach to dealing with the Atypical population, she found it imperative to be as hands-on as possible. She'd received the paperwork earlier in the morning, and given the unique situation of the patient, the doctor was intent on having the patient transferred to this division. "The Patient was apprehended along with one other on the west coast. When I heard that he nearly exploded when surrounded by the authorities, I put in a request to have him transferred here."

Joan always carried an air of dignity, she gathered her materials and notes, and made her way from her office. She continued to speak into her recorder. "Devon Valentine, age twenty-seven, is an alleged pyromancer and was promptly arrested at the hands of the AM facility in California. Hopefully, we can avoid any sort of punishment for him, aside from his display of ability in public, he hasn't seem to have caused any damage to person or property." As she found her way into the facility's atrium, an armored vehicle pulled up to the front entrance.

Four heavily geared security officers filed out of the vehicle, pulling the bound shape of a man in tow. Kept in a straight jacket and muzzle and lead in chains, the main followed the officers into the building to be met with the disappointed gaze of one Joan Bright.

"This is highly unnecessary!" Joan scoffed, looking at he conditions at which the atypical was held. "We don't even bind our worst criminals this way, we shouldn't be abusing atypicals like this either." She added, her brow furrowing.

The attache of officers hardly regarded the woman at all. Three of them silently returned to the vehicle while the fourth stayed behind." This is a dangerous atypical ma'am." The man said curtly, pulling the bound atypical forward to stand between them. He left no room for a rebuttal from the Director, immediately turning from her and leaving the building. She stood in silence for a few moments, meeting eyes with the clearly distressed atypical, before moving to remove his muzzle.

"I'm Director Bright. You can call me Joan." She said plainly, pulling the leather straps from the man's face. "This is not how things are supposed to work around here, and I personally apologize for any abuses you may have faced before coming here."

"Well, y'know." Devon said, sort of dismissing what she said. His personal traumas didn't begin with the West Coast AM. An aide, who'd been summoned by the Director, found his way over to the gathering in the front of the facility. He moved the best he could to remove all of the new arrivals binds. Quickly.

"Thanks for the help, Jackson." Joan said, heaving a sigh of relief.

"Not a problem, Joan." He added, a charming smirk curled across his lip." And you must be Devon." Jackson turned his attention to the new arrival.

"Jackson, I wasn't expecting Devon to be dropped off so early, I have somethings to prepare before I see him." Joan started before looking to Devon. "Jackson can take you through intake, and we can start a session immediately. I can't imagine what you've gone through."

"Sure, I guess." Devon nodded, rubbing his wrists, releasing the tension of having been bound and gagged for seven hours. "As long as I can get something to eat." He reached up and scratched his scalp through his long disheveled hair before resting his palm on his forehead.

"Jackson can show you the secret vending machine." Joan added with a cheeky smile, cutting her eyes to the agent.

Joan nodded with a smile and turned to leave. "I'll be in Examination Room 204, I'll meet you there, Devon."

An hour later, Devon found himself standing in a dimly lit hallway. Next to him stood the much more confident Jackson. It wasn't lunch, but a chocolate bar would do well enough to boost his energy a little bit. He'd not eaten the entire trip from california, his handlers were under strict order to not undo his restraints. He brought the butterfinger to his lips, and crunched down on the candy with ferocity. It only took Devon a few moments to completely annihilate the treat.

"Hungry, huh? I bet." Jackson said with a chuckle. "We try to keep this vending machine secret around here, only for the most special patients."

"Is that what I am here?" Devon said, wiping the chocolate remains from his mouth.

"You've been through a lot, we don't want to add to that. We want to help people like us." Jackson said reassuringly.

"I appreciate the thought, but we'll see. The california facility wasn't very helpful." The other facility was even less helpful than that. "But, people like us? You're an atypical?"

"Yeah, couldn't you tell?"

"I thought you were just efficient." It was meant to be a joke, but there was a twinge of something under the surface. A retraction of something to protect himself. He kept it hidden. "I think I should go meet Director Bright now." Devon quickly added, not allowing Jackson to comment any further.

The two walked in silence to the elevator. Devon's eyes didn't leave the other, he waited for Jackson to get into the elevator first and insisted that he himself press the button on the panel. Jackson could see something changed, something was weird, but chose to not comment. They remained quiet for the rest of the elevator ride.

"Thank you, Jackson." Devon said, stepping from the elevator. "I can find my own way." He added.

"Oh, okay. Are you sure?" He asked, but Devon was already gone.

The second floor was full of examination rooms, a long clinical hallway dotted with doors with single windows. Most of the time, therapy sessions weren't held on this floor, there were offices specifically built for this type of session. Given what happened in that part of the hospital, Joan found it better to do business in any place in the building apart from those places. Devon remembered 'Room 205', he walked slowly down the fluorescent lit hallway counting the numbers on placards. 'Two, three, four...' he thought to himself before coming up on the correct room.

"Come in, Devon." Joan said, seeing that Devon had found his way to their session. Joan had set up a replication of her old office. As much as she could given how clinical these offices were. "Generally we don't like to jump right into sessions when it comes to new patients, we like to give them to adjust to being here. But you're a special case."

"How am I special, Director?" Devon asked, taking the seat across from her.

"All atypicals are special." She replied, almost jokingly. "But the treatment you've received from our sister facility-" Joan interrupted herself. "-we were trying to do our best to right the wrongs of what we've done. Not every division agrees."

"No kidding."

"So, shall we begin?" Joan asked. "We can start with the basics. What is your name?"

"Devon Valentine." He answered with an exasperated sigh. "I'm from Ohio, I come from a family of atypicals."

"What is your ability?" Joan asked plainly.

"Fire, I guess." Devon said.

"You guess?"

"It's closer to 'heat'. I can manipulate fire, but I can manipulate heat itself." He explained, there was a certain irritation to his answer. "You people don't seem to care about the difference."

"'You people? People without abilities?" Joan replied.

"Scientists."

Joan noted the way he said that word. Even she could read the tones, this man had contempt for people who did this kind of work. She didn't blame him. The people she helped get out of Tier Five in her own facility felt much the same way. Contempt could quickly turn into something else more dangerous.

"I try my best not to let myself make snap judgments. Sometimes snap judgments save my life." Devon continued. "I'm sure you understand." He'd heard about the deaths that had happened in this building when he returned to the states.

"Tell me how your ability is different." Joan said, dancing around what he'd said. She filed it away for later, but this wasn't about her or what happened here. She had to focus on him right now.

"Do you want a demonstration?"

"If you want, I prepared." She said, tapping a fire extinguisher she had placed next to her chair.

Devon remained silent, but before anything else could happen, the room filled with crimson flame. It danced in circles out from Devon's person, surging up the walls and across the floor, completely engulfing the entire areas. Joan recoiled in horror, covering her face in an attempt to protect herself.

It was over in an instant, the flames dispersed and the room fell silent. The flames left no mark. No scorches, no residual flames, not even a burn on the upholster. Joan looked out from behind her arms shielding her face, noting that she and everything else in the room was completely undamaged.

"Wh-"Joan sighed, confused. "It wasn't hot. It didn't burn." She said.

"My flames don't have to burn. I have control of their temperature."

"I can see that." Joan replied.

"Sorry, I figured you wouldn't believe me if I just told you. And you certainly wouldn't have let me blast you with fire." Devon sighed.

"So, can you create flames that actual burn people?" She asked.

"Of course. Why do you think they locked me up in Sacramento?"He explained.

"Tell me about it, Devon."

"I started displaying my ability more out in the open." Devon said.

"You started manipulating flames in front of people?" Joan asked, shifted in her seat.

"No. Just look at me."

"You look a little feverish."

"Right, but I'm not sick." Devon explained. "My body temperature is too high. My skin is red, I'm sweating all the time."

"But that doesn't sound like something an average person would conflate with an atypical ability. People develop fevers." Joan said, almost confused.

"Well, of course they do." Devon added. "But I occasionally ignite, and I never notice."

"And people might thing it's strange that you're not reacting to being on fire." She recognized. A lot atypical pyrokinetics weren't immune from the heat of their fire, they were in as much danger of their own ability as everyone around them are. The fact this young man was seemingly burn-proof was an interesting development.

"My ability didn't use to be that way, I use to be much weaker. Now it's more like I'm boiling all the time." Devon continued. "But the fire I make doesn't burn me, and as much as feeling like I'm overheating all the time is a nightmare, it doesn't seem to be killing me."

"Did the previous facility know you could do that." Joan asked.

"Their director did. He put up quite the fight when his boss sided with your inquiry." Devon nodded. "I don't know what he wanted out of me or my brother, but he certainly couldn't be much worse."

"Worse than what, Devon?" Joan asked, concerned.

"The Chelovecheskiy Sovet."


	2. To East Germany

Five Years Earlier

Devon and his siblings were on vacation in Germany, a trip that they had planned for months. Devon was the youngest, and despite being his early twenties, had the least developed powers of the four siblings. Leonard, the oldest, was skilled. He could create illusions, but he could never fool all five senses. Jasper and Tristan were the middle siblings, and while normally that would resign most to falling into the idea of middle-child-syndrome, they excelled in their own ways as well. Tristan made his name as a professional boxer, his ability to harden his own body gave him a unique advantage in the ring. Jasper, however, had an ability that made him exceptionally powerful but it came close to ruining his life.

Jasper had a psychic ability. If he'd ever been to the AM, they would've classified him as a Class A if he were lucky, Class E if they were. The other three could never quite help him understand the fullness of what he was capable of, he didn't like using it, especially on them. He could alter the way people behaved. It wasn't controlling them, he couldn't make people do things. Jasper could reach in and take something out. The others had an understanding that he could remove a person's inhibitions. Like alcohol. Someone affected by his ability might throw caution to the wind and talk to the pretty girl sitting on the other side of the bar. Or someone might not be able to hold himself back from punching someone in the parking lot of that bar in a blind rage.

This ability weighed heavily on Jasper. The others did their best to help him, Devon and Leonard's powers were dangerous in a way that they could perhaps understand the responsibility and burden of an ability like that. Tristan on the other hand didn't really get it, he had complete control of his ability from the moment it emerged in his teen years, and it was far less dangerous than the others. He did his best to support his brother.

That's how they ended up in Germany. Their ancestral home. It was Devon's idea, he thought that it would a good thing for Jasper. For all of them, really. He'd hoped that they could take a few weeks to just relax, enjoy some time off. Jasper's mental health was failing, the pressure to keep his ability under lock and key was eroding his health. It was affecting the whole family.

Devon kicked open the door to their hostel room, determined to carry most of the group's luggage himself. The rest followed behind, catching bagged that'd fallen off of Devon's attempt to make himself seem strong. It only took a few seconds before Devon gave up, tossing the mountain of luggage the group had brought directly into the center of the floor.

"Good one, Dev." Leonard said, snarking as he came in behind him.

"You should've let us help." Tristan added, bringing in the stragglers Devon couldn't hold onto. "It would've been far less annoying. This place was so cheap we could've hired someone to bring our bags up."

"Maybe. It's done now, though." Devon responded, walking over to claim his bunk. Bottom bunk. He was the youngest, but the largest of the four brothers. He couldn't do top bunks. Heights were a problem.

Jasper came in silent at the end of the pack, making his way through the other brothers and staking his own claim on a bunk. The bottom bunk directly across from Devon's. He remained silent, within himself, for a number of minutes. Devon and the others didn't fill the silence, only concerned with their brother. Not sure how to help and not sure what to say. It'd been like this for months. They couldn't reach him. Maybe he didn't want to be reached. Jasper collapsed onto his pillow, it wasn't very soft, less like feathers and more like straw. He turned his back to his brothers, fixated on the corner opposite him.

"Jasper-" Leonard started.

"I'm fine." Jasper cut him off. It sounded more aggressive than he probably meant it. He was exhausted. Emotionally exhausted. "It's been a long trip, Leo." He followed up.

Tristan and Leonard found their places, top bunks, above Jasper and Devon respectively. They both tossed their bags onto their bunks and turned to each other.

"Something on your mind, man?" Tristan asked.

"You wanna go get some food with me, bring it back? We can have a boys' night in." Leonard suggested. If he couldn't get Jasper out, he would bring out in. Devon could stay with Jasper, maybe get him to open up, and Tristan would go out with Leonard.

"Yeah, sounds good." Tristan answered back.

"You guys want anything specific?" Leonard asked, turning his attention to the other two brothers.

"Pizza!" Devon exclaimed.

"Pizza? We're in Germany?" Tristan asked incredulously.

"Or pretzels and schnitzel? I don't know, damn!" Devon just wanted pizza. He knew they'd be in Germany for a few weeks, they had plenty of time to eat all the german food they could.

"Jasper?" Leonard asked, more timidly than before.

"Yeah, pizza sounds good." Jasper responded, not turning from his fixation on the wall. His voice was quiet and weak, but Leonard took his answer as convincing.

"Pizza it is, then." Leonard said, much to the disapproval of Tristan.

Leonard waited a few moments to hear any sort of approval from Jasper, when no further confirmation was given, the two eldest brothers left the hostel room.

"We'll be back soon." Tristan reassured before they disappeared into the hallway.

Devon and Jasper sat in silence for what seemed like hours, neither saying anything. Devon lacking what he perceived as 'the right thing' to say, and Jasper was content to be left alone. It didn't stop him from trying.

"Do you resent us?" Devon said plainly. He knew it would ignite an argument between the four brothers if he'd said that while the other two were around. But Devon himself has dealt with depression and anxiety, especially around his ability, and he understood how Jasper could feel about all of this. This forced vacation, as it were.

Jasper didn't say anything at first. He shifted around before turning over to face his younger brother. He opened the arms of his glasses and put them on, pulling them from place in his lap he'd laid them on. Jasper was nearly blind without his glasses, Devon noted that he wanted to see him, and that could possibly mean an argument.

"No, I don't resent you." Jasper said plainly. He could recognize when his brothers were trying to do something nice. "And it was nice to see Tristan again."

"Yeah, something like that." Devon responded with a chuckle.

Tristan was the second oldest, but in reality, he often felt as if he didn't belong in the family. His ability was very grounded, a C-Class ability. He could harden his body like stone, and while that is incredible, he felt left out. The others had A-Class abilities. Tristan left as soon as he was able, he had to make a name for himself. And he did just that, becoming a successful pugilist. Tristan didn't come around the others as much after that, he had his own life to live. Devon knew in his own heart though that there was something more to his departure. He chose to ignore that motivation.

"It's hard to be around other people, you know that." Jasper said, his powers were hard to control, and when there were so many people, it was almost impossible to tell if he was or wasn't affecting anybody nearby.

"Yeah, I know that too." Devon shot back. "Unlike you, people can see my ability. If I accidentally cause a maelstrom of flame in the middle of Cleveland, people are gonna take notice."

"You've never killed anybody, Devon." Jasper said, his voice pained.

"Neither have you." Jasper couldn't help what other people did because of his powers, that's all Devon knew. As much as Jasper had this incredible power, he couldn't force anybody to do anything.

"I might as well have!" Jasper shouted. He didn't see any distinction. To him, he was a murderer.

"He killed that guy because he wanted to, Jasper. It was his decision!" Devon shouted back, not noticing that flame was beginning to spray from his person. It only took a few moments of their argument for an ember to catch.

"Your fire isn't supposed to do that!" Jasper shouted, leaping from his bunk. Embers had showered onto the floor of the room, igniting the throw rug decorating the middle and bathing the space in crimson light.

"It's not!" Devon pleaded back, grabbing the blazing fabric with his bare hands and rushing it into the restroom. He tossed it into the tub,and turned the water as high as it would go. After a few moments, the fire was doused and the panic along with it.

The room had filled with black smoke, and the smell of burnt plastic permeated their breathing space. Devon struggled to clear the air before Tristan and Leonard returned. Pizzas in hand, Tristan went straight for Devon's throat.

"Are you kidding? We leave you alone for half and hour and you set the room on fire?" Tristan angrily snapped, tossing the pizzas on the bed to his left.

"No, I didn't! I set a rug on fire. On accident." Devon snapped back, coming close to headbutting his older brother.

"That's enough." Leonard said sternly. "I don't want to have to use my ability on either of you. I'm not getting kicked out onto the streets of germany!"

A quiet fell on the room, the black smoke was being directed out of the open window, and Jasper lit some candles that he'd brought from home. Soon enough the air was clear and the smell of burning was on its way out. The brothers found their way to their bunks, the four of them sat on the two bottom bunks where they could share their food.

Devon took a slice, still hot from the pizza oven, stuffed it right in his mouth. He let out pained whelps realizing that the boiling hot cheese completely burned off the surface of his hard palette. Tristan frowned at his brother's impulsivity before speaking.

"The weirdest thing happened while we were down at the market." Tristan said in between bites of food. "There was this black van at the pizzeria."

"What kind of van?" Jasper asked.

"Like a sketchy van. Blacked out windows, no license plate." Tristan answered.

"After that we saw a very similar black van at the chocolate shop on the corner." Leonard interjected. "When we realized that the van was following us, we took a different way back."

"Why would someone follow you two?" Devon asked. "You're just two guys."

"Two atypical guys." Tristan said.

"Maybe. I don't know." Leonard. "We'll have to keep an eye out. We lost the van on the way back, but we can't be too careful."


	3. The Animator

The brothers took the arrival of mysterious black vans around the city as impetus to remain inside for the next few days. Golden rays of sun danced in through the windows and were all but ignored by the four brothers. Their second day in the city was haunted by the sighting of another black van, their third day found sketchy vans canvassing the block. Devon's anxiety over the possibility they were being stalked practically left him immobile, refusing to leave their hostel room. On the fourth day, the boys found no vans. No stalker behavior, no anxiety of being kidnapped overseas and being sold into Eastern European slavery. Leonard took the absence of mysterious vehicle as the opportunity to get his brothers out and into the city.

It was what they came to germany for, to forget their problems back in the States. He wasn't going to let their opportunity to have fun go to waste because of a couple of sketchy vans. Leonard came out of the bathroom, stepping through the door frame to see his three brothers, sitting in silence, scrolling on their phones.

"We're going out tonight." Leo said plainly. It wasn't a request, it was a statement of fact.

"We are?" Tristan responded, raising a brow.

"I thought we agreed it was safer in here." Devon said. "Didn't you see that movie where they tortured those people in germany?"

"Yeah, Devon, we all saw it. And they kidnapped the people from inside a hostel." Tristan scoffed. "Bad comparison."

"I just don't like the idea of getting kidnapped and my kidneys ending up on the black market." Devon retorted.

"I'm down." A quiet voice pierced through the argument. Jasper had been quiet, he was always quiet. But there had to be a point where he didn't feel like he was letting his brothers down. They dragged him here to have fun, Leonard was making them do it.

"Really, Jasper?" Devon asked, surprised to hear that his brother was so willing.

"Sure, and maybe then you guys will stop hounding me to go out." He added outright, not worried about how it might sound. "Maybe it will do some good, I don't know."

"It will, Jasp." Leonard said

"If I notice for a second that my ability is affecting somebody nearby, we're leaving. Going home." He added back.

"Fair." Leonard replied, though he wasn't as convinced.

It was only the early afternoon, the sun was just beginning its dip to the western skies, the brothers had plenty of time before it made sense for them to go out. They still had time to decide, but Devon wanted to get drinks. German beer at a German bar.

Devon stood up slowly from his bunk, he'd been laying there for a few hours and it took him a second to find his stable feet. His knees weren't what they used to be. Over the past few days, he'd felt a warmth building, it made him mildly nauseous. Perhaps a fever, the pain he felt was mild and he was able to ignore it.

"I'm gonna take a shower." Devon announced, making his way across the room and into the bathroom. The others would be upset if he got into the shower without telling them, hogging the bathroom randomly. You find it hard to deal with one bathroom growing up with three other brothers. He reached for the shower knobs, they were cool to the touch. They felt nice even against Devon's warm hands.

He normally liked hot showers, but he turned the temperature relatively low. Most people would call it a cold shower. Devon quickly removed his clothes, folding them neatly and setting them on the floor near the shower door. The cool water splashed against his overheating skin as he stepped into the shower's stream. Steam billowed over the shower door, radiating off of contact between the cold water and Devon's skin. It was only a matter of time before the whole room was full of opaque steam.

Several hours passed, the brothers sat mostly quietly in their room. Leonard had spent the afternoon walking about town, scouting places that they might finally have a chance to unwind in. After a couple of hours, he'd found what seemed like the perfect pub. Dark inside, relaxed atmosphere, perfect place for a low pressure night out for a group of brothers just trying to enjoy themselves. Leonard had pitched the place to the others and they agreed. Easy for the group of atypicals to have a low-key night, to not attract attention to themselves.

"We're leaving!" Tristan called out, rallying his siblings. His tone was abrasive, he was mostly always abrasive. The tone got the brothers in line, though. Devon and Jasper grouped up by the door near Tristan, Leonard emerged from the door behind him to lead the group.

"That's what you're wearing?" Leonard asked, seeing what the two youngest siblings were wearing.

"Yeah, Leo." Devon frowned. It was a pub, it wasn't a club or anything of import. He figured that a zip up hoodie and jeans would be fine for getting a beer at a pub.

"You gonna change me?" Jasper said quietly, it was a miracle the others convinced him to come out at all, he was gonna be comfortable.

Tristan scowled, but Leonard sighed and gestured for the other three to follow. The four walked down to the street, Devon took the time to admire the sunset and the pink clouds. The others, however, were more content to just get to their destination. None of the brothers, however, noticed the black van parked several car lengths behind them.

Leonard entered first, pushing the door open to the dimly lit pub and leading the other four inside. The air smelt of barley and incense, Devon particularly enjoyed the aroma. He turned to the other four as they moved past the door area to speak.

"I'm gonna go sit at the bar." Devon said, raising his voice ever so slightly for the others to hear. The sound of loud chatter from the other patrons and the music filling the area drowned out his voice. "I'll come sit with you guys soon, right?" He added as the other three nodded.

Devon left his brothers, and found his way to the bar. The bar was pretty full, most of the places were occupied by patrons, but Devon found an open spot between two men. He pulled the stool out and sat down, silently examining what the bar had on tap. Soon he was approached by the bartender.

"Sprechen sie englisch?" Devon couldn't speak german very well, Leonard was the polyglot.

"Ja." The bartender rolled her eyes, but she was ready to accommodate.

"I'll just have a pint of guiness, then." Devon said as politely as he could.

"Coming right up." The bartender said, but the sarcasm wasn't absent from her voice. It isn't unfair of her to find foreigners annoying, but Devon smiled and nodded.

"Don't take it personally." A voice rang out next to him, cracking through the tension the weird interaction between Devon and the Bartender had left. "She's like that with most americans." He added with a chuckle.

"Yeah, I guess I don't blame her." Devon responded with a smile.

"My name is Nathan." The stranger said, an eager smile met the other's. Nathan was a man, a few years older than Devon, with a sleight frame. No taller than five-six with blue eyes and scruffy brown hair.

"I'm Devon." Devon introduced himself. "You don't have an accent, are you from the States too?"

"Yep." Nathan nodded. "I had to get out though, I figured I'd come east."

"Oh, what? A fugitive from the law? A Clyde without his Bonnie?" Devon joked.

"More like a Clyde without his Clyde." Nathan sighed. "But no, not really." He added with a laugh. "Some stuff happened, and I guess you could say I'm a fugitive. But it's only because of who I am not what I've done."

"I came with my brothers, family vacation." Devon nodded, silently thanking the bartender as she loudly placed his glass in front of him. "We all sort of needed a change of scenery. My brother Jasper's been going through a lot." Devon didn't want to let what Nathan said go, 'because of who I am not what I've done'. His interest was piqued. "But, who you are? Gay?" He did say 'Clyde and Clyde' after all.

"No." Nathan laughed. "I don't get attacked in the streets for that."

"Yeah, no kidding." Devon said. "I only grew up with my brothers so I didn't really have to worry about being disowned."

Nathan's face grew slightly worried, his brows knit together at the thought of being disowned, but it wasn't what he was talking about. "There's a lot of cruelty in the world, Devon. We're supposed to be the best of us."

All of this sounds a lot like the things Jasper used to say. He'd heard this narrative a lot growing up in an atypical family. Devon was silently entertaining the idea that this stranger was also an atypical. He let the silence hang for a few moments before speaking again. "When you say 'the best of us', what do you mean?"

Nathan squinted, he knew that strangers couldn't be trusted. He'd learned just as all atypicals had learned. "Wouldn't you like to know?" He was coy, but smart.

Devon eyed Nathan and then eyed his pint of beer. He reached out and grasped it. Devon made sure to get Nathan's attention, and he focused on the dark liquid. The beer began to bubble, and soon it was boiling. He held it in between the two of them to prevent anyone else from seeing it. Nathan's eyes widened, but a looking of knowing quickly replaced it.

"Interesting." Nathan said with a smirk. He pulled a leather tassel keychain from his pocket and held it between his hand. "But I can make things dance." He said, revealing that the leather tassels began dancing on their own. It danced in his hand as if it had life of its own, not in the way that a telekinetic makes something move. There was something about its movement that felt organic.

"That's incredible!" Devon said, it was loud but not too loud to draw attention to himself.

"Thank yo-" Nathan started to thank him before a loud crash of bar tables and chairs erupted over the merriment of the bar.

"Diene mutter geht in der staht huren!" The voice of an angry man pierced the sound of the crowd, Devon pinpointed that the commotion was coming from the direction of his brothers. He looked to Nathan, gave him a concerned look, and rushed over into what was becoming a full melee.

Tristan, being the accomplished fighter he was, managed to hold a number of angry bar patrons back without harming them. A number of them were already drunk, redirecting their violence wasn't a problem for him. "What did you do?" Tristan sneered at Jasper.

"I didn't do anything." He was doubting himself. He worried that he would never get his ability under control at this point. Jasper cowered behind Leonard, who was behind Tristan.

"Don't believe you." Tristan grunted.

Tristan was able to route three drunken berserkers, putting them on the ground without really hurting them or simply leading them in a different direction. A fourth, however, joined the fray. He reached out, stealing a bottle of beer from a nearby table and smashing it. Tristan had no time to stop him.

Tristan managed to get the drunken man onto the floor too late, the man had driven the jagged edges of a broken bottle into the neck of another bar patron. Blood poured from the exposed bottle spout, draining onto the pub floor and pooling around the feet of those standing nearby.

"Shit." Tristan growled. "Shit shit shit." He tried to put pressure on the man's wound to no avail.

"We need to go." Leonard commanded, looking to see Devon rushing over.

"What the hell is happening?" Devon asked, accidentally standing in the man's blood.

"We're leaving." Tristan spat, shoving off angry bar patrons. They slipped in the pooling blood and most of the combatants were slow to get back up.

The four ran to the front entrance, Jasper being dragged out by Leonard. They stopped on the street, out of the chaos that had erupted inside. The rest of the patrons had begun to panic upon realizing what had gone down.

"Jasper, what did you do?" Devon asked, out of breath.

"You're all atypical?" A voice asked from behind the group.

"Nathan?" Devon turned to see the atypical he'd met in the bar.

"Devon, you can't just go telling people you're an atypical." Leonard reprimanded.

"He's one too." Devon sneered back.

"What's going on, Devon?" Nathan asked.

"We're going back to our Hostel, right now." Tristan interrupted.

"You wanna come with us?" Devon asked Nathan.

"This is hardly the time to try to get a date, Devon!" Tristan snapped.

"Jasper Valentine?" Another voice called out. There was no german accent, the accent was different. The group turned their collective attention to the mystery man to find a large man, dressed in a black suit with sunglasses. He stood on the curb in front of a black van. "You will come with me." He continued. His accent was further east, perhaps ukranian. Something slavic.

"Absolutely not." Leonard said, narrowing his vision.

Leonard turned to leave, pulling Jasper with him, only to be met with two more large men in black suits. Another two approached from another direction. It was only moments before the group was surrounded. "It is not your choice, you will all come."


	4. Inflamed Condition

"Devon, I'll have to interrupt you." Doctor Bright spoke out, eyeing the large analogue clock hanging on the wall. She'd let the young atypical speak uninterrupted for nearing an hour now, but the session was coming to its allotted end and the night staff would be arriving any moment. Though she was incredibly interested in learning what had happened to Devon, learning what this 'Chelovecheskiy Sovet' was. She turned her attention to her notes, marking that it was important that she get to the bottom of it in their next session. "We seem to have run out of time, I'm sorry."

"Yes." Devon nodded, snapping back to the present. Finding his way back into the clinical confines of the examination room in which they sat. "We were just getting to the best part." He added dryly. 

Joan smiled dryly in return, though she understood that cutting an session in the middle of what might have been greater momentum would be frustrating. "I would like to continue this first thing in the morning. Is that alright with you, Devon?" She asked.

"Yeah I guess." He sighed. 

"I can help you find your room, if you need." Joan cut in.

"Uh-" Devon shifted uncomfortably in his chair. He'd seen enough of sanitized white walls for a lifetime. "-do I.." He trailed off. He realized he didn't have any where else to go. Even if he could walk out the front doors of this facility, he'd just be on the streets. 

"You'll be a guest here, Devon." She added. "We're revamping the way our tiers work here, after all the missteps over the past several years I couldn't let this AM continue to ruin people's lives." She quietly reminisced over all the loss she'd experienced in that moment, but she couldn't let that show.

"Yes, the missteps." Devon stood from his chair, heaving a heavy sigh. In the few weeks he'd been back in the states and his trafficking with the underground atypical groups here, he'd heard of the upheaval here in Boston. The death of the previous director by the hands of a dangerous atypical. Even before that incident he'd heard that this facility was no better than anything he'd seen in Eastern Europe. Well, maybe a little better. "I'll get out of your hair, then?" Devon added with a weak laugh.

Joan frowned slightly as she stood to meet the other, though she found herself staring between his shoulder blades. Devon had silently turned to leave the room, not waiting for the Doctor to follow suit. Silently, Joan grabbed her notes and recorder and scurried to stand next to him. There was no way he'd find his own room, it probably wouldn't be safe for him to have free reign over the facility in the first place. The two stepped into the hallway, Joan silently gestured for the two of them to head to the elevator.

"We have nicer rooms on the first floor." Joan begin, stepping into the elevator. "Back when I first started working here, the first floor dorms were reserved for Tier One patients. Someone on my team made it his mission to make them as welcoming as possible."

"Welcoming?" Devon asked.

"He felt this facility was too clinical. It was cold. And he wasn't wrong." Joan explained. "Even while this place was responsible for horrible things, he did his best to make things better where he could." She added as the elevator doors opened to the front lobby. Joan stepped from the chamber with Devon following closely behind.

"And you think he did it?" Devon asked plainly.

"Yeah." Joan said solemnly. "I think he did."

"Joan!" A voice called out from the atrium of the facility's lobby. "Is everything alright?"

"Jackson!" Joan snapped from her attention on the past, seeing the friendly face of her most valued agent and confidant. She expected him to have left by now. "The night faculty is arriving, you should've have gone home, Jackson." 

"I had some work to do, and I figure that I would walk you to your car." He smirked, it was part of his charm. 

"You know I don't need that." Joan responded coyly, she knew why he wanted to do it. It was about protecting her, yes, but after everything that'd happened the two had been spending a lot of time together off the clock.

"I'm sure this is very cute for the both of you." Devon said. "But I'm kinda tired." He'd had a long day, and this weird hetero display was just as exhausting to have to sit through. 

Joan, embarrassed, turned from Jackson to Devon. "Yes, right." She said. "Uh, since you and Jackson met previously-"

"I can show you to your room." Jackson said cutting in, noting Joan's obvious flustered demeanor. 

"Sure, the atypical." An innocuous statement, but learning Jackson was an atypical working for an organization that specializes in studying atypicals made Devon uneasy. He'd already seen what could go wrong.

Jackson and Joan ignored his statement. He'd been through a lot and neither of them were sure of the depth of what kind of trauma he may have went through. Jackson, with a silent smile, nodded to Joan and moved over to Devon. 

"I will see you in the morning, Devon. I don't want to lose our momentum." Joan said, calling over to the departing atypicals. 

"Isn't that looked down upon?" Devon spoke in hushed tones toward Jackson as they left Joan's vicinity. He didn't get the idea that Joan was a malevolent person, but he couldn't ever be sure. "You don't feel like her pet?"

"What?" Jackson's tone shifted. It felt angry, Devon must have hit some kind of nerve. "What a shitty thing to say. Racism isn't cool, man."

"No, you're an atypical, not because you're black." Devon cut in. "A scientist, and your boss, taking advantage of her atypical lower? For fun."

Jackson narrowed his eyes, and the two stopped walking. "Joan isn't like that. She's been involved with the atypical community for most of her life. She does what she does because she cares about us, not because we're something to be studied or played with." 

Devon remained silent, his eyes not leaving the agent. He crossed his arms, shifting in place. "In my experience, 'wanting to help' us never works out."

Jackson sighed, he wasn't someone who could talk someone down like Joan could. Something clearly happened to Devon and he didn't know he could help him by just arguing with him in a hallway of the AM. "This is your room." He finally said.

Devon released the tension in his jaw and in his shoulders upon seeing the room. He looked at Jackson again, reading the annoyance on his face. While he felt bad for starting a minor argument with an almost stranger, he didn't feel like apologizing would actually do anything.

"Thank you." He finally said, stepping into the open door. Devon turned back to look at Jackson and frowned. 

"Look man, if you give us the chance we can show that we're really here to help. That Joan is really here to help." Jackson said in his softest tone, before turning to walk away.

"Yeah." Devon sighed at his departure.

The room was small, smaller than the examination room he'd spent the last hour or so in. It was nice, though. The walls were white, but were decorated with art made by some much younger atypical patients. The bed was a twin with white bedding. Devon smirked, noting that the bed was an actual bed and not a cot. There was a small flat screen attached to the wall opposite the bed, and there was even a small leather arm chair in the corner. 

Devon examined the room, there was a table next to the bed with a dim lamp. A change of clothes laid folded next to it. They looked more dignified than the scrubs the western branch transferred him in. He closed the door behind him and quickly removed his clothing, replacing them with the folded clothes on the table. Grey sweat pants and a matching plain t-shirt. They were a little small, but Devon didn't mind.

It was the first time since he'd gotten to Boston that he'd had a moment to himself. True silence. Devon gathered the bedding from his bed and balled it up under his arm before tossing it off, the bundle falling onto the arm chair behind him. Fewer variables to worry about. He hadn't slept with sheets and blankets in a long time. As he sat down in the middle of the overly clean mattress, he let out an enormous sigh. His mind was swirling with thoughts, invasive nervous ideas, but he managed to shovel them away enough to lay his head down on the pillow. Within the hour he was in a deep sleep. 

As soon as the clock struck three in the morning, Devon's breathing became sharp and shallow. He didn't understand why it continued to happen this way, but every night around the same time, Devon unconsciously descended into uncontrollable panic. 

"No..." He mumbled between sharp exhales, the volume increasing with each successful cry. He gripped the fabric of the mattress as he descended into hyperventilation. While his breathing and sleep gibbering grew louder, dancing embers began to glow through the darkness of the room. It was only a matter of time before those embers to catch.

"NO!" Devon screamed, launching himself into an upright position from sleep. Flames erupted from him, bathing the room in burning light. The difference this time from when he demonstrated his inconsistent powers the previous evening was the flames were presenting a real danger. The mattress under him was the first to catch fire, quickly blackening the polyester pillow top, the rest of the furniture followed suit.

Devon curled himself into a ball on his bed, he gripped desperately on his hair at the root trying to focus on anything. The redness of his skin only exacerbated by his panic and the raging flames of the room. His powers lacked any consistency anymore, he neglected to tell Doctor Bright but he didn't find it important at the time. He wished he did. 

"C'mon, Devon!" He snarled in between gasps, pushing his fists into his scalp. No matter how much he tried to focus, he couldn't calm down, and he couldn't reach the flames with his ability. The blazing flames weren't responding to his thoughts, and neither was his own breathing.

Devon's screams poured from his room into the hallway, followed by billowing black smoke. It only took moments more for someone to realize that something was happening. The one who responded wasn't even supposed to be in the building, she smelled the smoke and ran to investigate, fire extinguisher in hand. She found the door, while hot to the touch, wasn't locked, and pushed her way inside. 

"What happened?!" The woman asked over Devon's screaming, spraying the room with extinguisher foam, searching for the source of the fire and the wails. 

"I can't!" Devon responded. "I can't!" 

The woman found her way through the flames, sure to not slip on the foamy mess left behind by the fire extinguisher's spray. She was all too familiar with what was happening, though her experience left her far less worried about collateral damage. Her sleight frame found her way through the smoke, her pale skin aglow from the flaming plaster.

Devon didn't recognize her, but noted her small size and bright orange hair. She wasn't someone he saw when he'd first arrived, or on his tour of the facility with Jackson. She found a spot on the bed that wasn't on fire and sat so that she could face Devon.

"You don't know me but I need to breathe for me." The woman said. "I need you to take a deep breath, okay?"

"I can't." He struggled to get out.

"You need to try for me, okay? In." She said, taking a deep breath in. "And out." She exhaled.

After a few moments Devon found his breathing slowing, he became aware of his own body again. The prickling numbness that had found its way across his mouth and up his arms. Whoever this woman was, she knew what she was doing.

"Good, that's good." She continued to breathe with Devon, nothing that he himself was able to start regulating his breathing.

"Who are you?" Devon asked, his voice weak.

"I'm Sam." She replied. "And we still have this little fire situation." Sam added.

"Right...uh...right." He sighed, he in that moment was able to focus better. Devon synced the flames that scorched the room with his breath, and as he calmed down, the flames petered out and died on their own. He sat in silence for a few moments, tears streaming down his warm face. They steamed on contact with the heat of his skin. "I'm Devon." He spat out. "How did you know how to do that?"

"I've got uh, a lot of experience in this nature." She replied. "My panic attacks used to trigger my ability too, it ruined my life. Well, I guess it kept me from having one in the first place, to be more accurate."

"You're an atypical?" 

"Yep, just like you." She added. 

"More atypicals around here than I'd thought there'd be." He sighed. "I'm sorry...about the room." He said, noting that his outburst completely destroyed the room. 

"This isn't beyond what the AM has dealt with before, it's part of the job." She tried to comfort Devon. 

"Thank you." Devon frowned. "The first warm bed I've had in months and I destroy it."

The morning sun came quickly, Devon didn't return to sleep for the rest of the night. He spent a number of hours talking to Sam, he was interested in her experienced as an atypical who's trauma affected their ability. He couldn't get much out of her but he didn't blame her, he didn't want to talk about what had happened to him with a near stranger either.

When she left to go home, Devon stayed awake, sitting in silence in on a blackened mattress. He spent a good number of hours thinking. If this place could help him divorce his ability impotence from the trauma he couldn't leave behind, maybe it wouldn't be so bad here.

"It's early, Mark, you didn't have to come in to see me. We could've gotten lunch later." Joan's voice could be heard entering the atrium of the lobby. She was speaking to someone as the two walked in through the front door.

"Yeah but you know me, when I have nightmares it's hard for me to get back to sleep." Mark replied. "Since I'm staying with you while I'm back in town, I figure since I'm already awake I should find something to do."

"And yet you keep coming back here." Joan said with a chuckle. "Given how much you hate this place you still somehow always end up back here."

"You're here, Joanie." He responded.

"I hope I'm not interrupting." Devon said, approaching the pair. He knew Joan would be into work first thing in the morning, so he waited outside his scorched room in the hallway. "I accidentally destroyed my room last night, I figured I should be the one to tell you."

"You destroyed your room?" Joan said in disbelief.

"Pyrokinetic?" Mark cut in, eyeing Devon. 

"How could you tell?" Devon asked, though the mere fact he could tell was concerning in and of itself.

"I can share abilities, I could feel it just being near you." Mark explained. "It got very hot when you walked up."

"Yes, I'm sure the two of you would get along just fine but there's a more pressing matter of Devon's destroyed room." Joan cut in.

"I had a panic attack in my sleep." Devon was more embarrassed than he let on. "I caught the room on fire, a woman talked me down though. The room is taped off now."

"A woman? An employee?" Joan asked.

"Called herself Sam." Devon explained. "She said she was working nearby and smelled smoke. She talked me down."

"Sam?" Mark repeated back. "Is she here?" 

"She and I talked for a few hours but she left. Why, do you know her?"

"I used to." Mark said with a half smile.

"Sam is a good friend. She occasionally does work here." She explained before continuing. "Panic attacks? You didn't mention that before." Joan said steering the conversation back to the matter at hand. "Mark, we can go get lunch, you're free to hang out but I have a session with Devon, here."

"Yeah, uh, well it was nice to meet you, Devon." Mark said, despite the weirdness of the conversation, there was a warmth in his smile.

"You too, Mark." Devon said back, he managed to return the smile in spite of not smiling since arriving and he accompanied Joan back to the examination room that held their first session.


	5. Atypical Blitz

"Sorry." Devon apologized quietly, finally taking a seat across from Joan. The two of them rushed up to the room in near silence, Joan was overwhelmed immediately upon arriving at the facility and Devon wanted to talk. Last night was a problem.

"I know we didn't get around to it last night, so I couldn't have expected you to have told me everything that was bothering you, I just wasn't expecting to come back to work today and find a room burnt out." Joan sighed. She wasn't mad. She understood what came with dealing in atypical affairs. "Last night during our session you mentioned more than once that your fire doesn't burn if you don't want it to. Was that a lie?"

"No." Devon sighed. "Sort of." He added. "Something happened to my ability. They did something to me and it hasn't been consistent ever since."

"And what happened last night was-"

"I had a panic attack in my sleep. Can't even trust my own brain while I'm asleep." Devon cut in. "It was never like that before, I haven't been able to burn things in months. And after I calmed down I was even able to disperse the flames."

"And you said Sam was there for you?" Joan was surprised and mildly concerned for her, after everything that happened she promised she would take it easy when it came to work in the AM.

"That's what she said her name was." Devon recollected. "She managed to calm me down, told me she used to lose control when she had panic attacks too."

"That sounds like her. She wasn't supposed to be working last night, she told me she was going home." Joan sighed.

"Who is she?" He asked.

"I'm sorry?"

"Who is she? Is she an agent like Jackson? Or is she a scientist?" Devon followed up.

"She's a friend." Joan said. "She helps around here with atypicals, she used to be a patient of mine, back when I had a private practice."

"What's her ability?"

"Time Travel." Joan technically felt weird about revealing that kind of information, but she hadn't been her patient in years by this point. "Did you not ask her?"

"No, I was kinda focused on my panic attack." He replied with a chuckle.

"I'm glad she was there. She spent a long time learning to cope with her panic attacks, and now she rarely leaves unintentionally." Joan explained. "If panic is a problem for you, we can work through it. We can help you just like I helped Sam, so you don't accidentally catch everything around you on fire."

"Fair enough."

"Now, last night you were telling me about the trauma you experienced in Germany." Joan said, clearing her throat. She flipped through her notes. "You and your brothers were caught in a bar brawl that ended in bloodshed."

"Right, the murder." Devon nodded.

"What happened next, Devon." Joan asked.

_______________________

"I don't know who you think you are, but you've never met someone like me." Leonard snarled at the men surrounding the group. It was hard to do to more than one person, but it was life or death. He had to protect his family. His eyes glazed over, but he made sure to at least briefly make eye contact with each of the four goons.

The four of them stopped in the tracks, struggling to move even a inch. Leonard was holding them, but it was straining him, the others noticed his breathing becoming labored. Casting an illusion that was as widespread as it was and so physically restricting was taxing.

"What did you do?" Nathan asked.

"I made them believe they're chained to the ground." He grunted, passing Jasper off to Tristan. "We need to get out of here."

"We can't go back to the hostel, they'll follow." Devon said.

"Where ever we go it has to be now!" Tristan snapped. "It sounds like the bar noticed the dead man on their floor." He added, hearing the uproar from inside the building.

The group started moving, quickly but not moving so fast as to draw attention to themselves. They rounded a street corner before being caught by a clothesline. A fifth man in black, unaffected by the illusory abilities of Leonard, ambushed the group, smashing Leonard across the eyes with his sturdy forearm. It happened so quickly that no one had time to react. Leonard was launched to the ground, where he writhed, covering his eyes in agony.

"LEO!" Devon yelled, realizing what had happened. It was only a matter of moments before the ensorcelled goons were released from Leonard's illusion and returned pursuit. "Damnit...DAMNIT!" He added, rushing to his brother's side. Unconscious, still alive.

"You son of a bitch." Tristan growled, releasing his grip on Jasper and leaping into defense of his brother. He found himself between his brothers and the man who assaulted Leonard, he hardened his skin like steel.

The man was a large enough target, Tristan had no problem landing punches. One punch to the side of the ear was enough, his stone-like fist knocked the man off his feet. The man tumbled over, rolling into a brick wall. Blood poured from his ear, at best the man would walk away with a shattered eardrum. At worst he would never get up again.

Before Tristan could move to the next one, two of the other men were upon him. Not to let him get one up on them first, the first man grabbed Tristan's arms from behind. The second revealed a tool, it looked like a pronged fork, and jabbed it into Tristan's gut. An intense electric current surged through his body, it ignored the defensive nature of his solid form and rendered it useless. Tristan's stiff galvanized body fell next to Leonard's, unconscious.

"Nathan, run." Devon said, trying to help his unconscious brothers with Jasper.

"I dont-" Nathan scrunched his nose, not knowing what to do. Was it worth any of this for some stranger he just met. He fled the states in the first place to avoid this specific situation. He backed up to take advantage of Devon's advice only to back up into man in black. That was that, Nathan was also apprehended. He struggled against the man's grip to no avail, he found himself blasted with an intense electrical current.

Devon couldn't do anything. Jasper couldn't do anything. In his desperation, he tried to conjure a potent flame. His powers have lacked potency ever since they appeared, he managed to generate a several arcs of flames, but not powerful enough to deter their assailants.

"Fuck." Devon sneered, unable to generate flames intense enough to fight off these men, he turned to Jasper. "I'm sorry!" He shouted, knowing that he was the last one able to protect them but he was failing in a major way.

Jasper knew it wasn't their fault. He only resented himself for losing control of his ability yet again. His ability never led to anything good. Now his family was going to suffer for his mistake. "We'll get out of this." Jasper said, looking down at their unconscious siblings.

The tete-a-tete between brothers was cut short, there was nothing they could do to protect themselves. Devon and Jasper were rendered unconscious through electric shock. The group of atypicals lay in the street, defeated.

The men began loading the brothers into their van when the crowd that had been forming around the commotion of the bar fight and the conflict with the atypicals. The leader of the men stepped forward to address the crowd before their work could be interrupted.

"These men were fugitives from The Ukraine, and we have apprehended them to extradite them." The man said in german. "Return to your lives, the show is over."

The five atypicals were loaded into the van one by one, completely unopposed by any passerby, betrayed by the bystander effect. The sliding van door slammed shut on the pile of unconscious bodies and they were, as they say, in the wind.


	6. Dog Days

The room was dark and cold, any light that could be found leaked in through the crack under the single door opposite where Devon lay unconscious. As his eyes cracked open slowly, he was subsumed by fear. He stayed quiet, but couldn't help but tremble, steel fastenings kept him firmly in place. There was no way for him to know how long he was out, aside from the sparse medical equipment the room was bare.

"Why..." Devon finally managed to mumble, turning his head back and forth against the hard table. "It's cold." He managed to gurgle out. As far as he could tell, he was alone. Perhaps whomever was holding him captive was pumping in cold air in order to keep him from igniting anything. Devon didn't know if that could actually work, but it wasn't a bad idea.

Since he had nothing to do but focus, and to keep his anxiety at bay, he figured he would attempt to make an escape. He turned his attention to his hand, bound by his side. Devon managed to maneuver his wrist to face upward. Devon could generate flame using his mind, but it was easier for him to create it if he focused on his hands or other appendage. 

"If I can-" Devon huffed, breathing through panic and the extreme cold. "-get it hot enough, I can bend this metal." He glared through the darkness at his palm, straining a muscle that didn't really exist. No matter how hard he clenched and squinted, no flame erupted in his hand. In fact, Devon couldn't even light a spark. He frowned, angrily dropping his head to lay back on the metal table. He remained silent for what seemed like hours, staring through the darkness, before it was interrupted by the sound of a turning doorknob.

Devon held his breath, drawing his lips in between his teeth. There was no way of knowing who was holding him captive, he was completely vulnerable. If he didn't get a hold of his ability within the next crucial seconds, there was nothing he'd be able to do. The door seemed to struggle, whoever was on the other side appeared to have trouble freeing the door from its frame. Devon heard shattering, it was light, he could recognize the noise as ice. It was so cold in the room that ice was forming on the surfaces.

The door swung open, the tell-tale noise of frozen metal scraping across the ground, and light flooded the room. Devon winged in pain, turning away from the bright fluorescent lighting invading his eyes that had spent a great deal of time acclimating to the near complete blackness. A tall silhouette stood in the white light, casting a shadow upon the table Devon was strapped to. He could see that the figure was standing but couldn't discern any features, he was tall and thin, and there was something incorrect about him.

"My word, it is cold in here." His voice had a slimy quality, Devon could tell that his accent was strongly russian. A pit formed in his stomach, the Russian AM must have been stalking the four of them since they got to Germany. The man moved into the room, reaching to the wall directly adjacent to the door and found a switch for the lights. "Cold enough for frost to form on the walls." The man continued, wedging his finger between the sheet of ice and the light switch.

Devon remained silent as the man finally managed to free the switch from the sheet of ice. The old fluorescent lights flickered on, taking a few seconds before achieving full luminosity. As his eyes finally adjusted, he could see what this stranger looked like. It wasn't someone he knew. He was tall and thin, his black eyes examined the room before staring right through the atypical's soul. His angular features did nothing to belie his depravity, his dry lips constantly curling back to reveal his large teeth. The man's hair was graying, slicked back and out of his face.

"What is this?" Devon struggled to asked. It wouldn't be smart for him to try to attack the man now, but he couldn't stop trying to at least conjure a little fire.

"Allow me to introduce myself, Veshch." The man said, narrowing his eyes. "I am Doctor Nikolai Federov, and I am the lead scientist here." 

"Here?" Devon said, his voice pained. "Where am I?" 

"The Chelovecheskiy Sovet, Veshch." Nikolai said. "We are a...non-profit." 

"A non-profit?" Sounded familiar. Devon heard the AM described in a similar way. 

"We are dedicated to the advancement of the human race, against extinction." Nikolai grinned. It wasn't an uncommon goal for baseline humans. They felt threatened by atypicals, they weren't entirely unjustified. But Devon wasn't unfamiliar with this rhetoric, developing technology to protect baseline humans always ended in the attempted elimination of entire populations. Nikolai glared at Devon, helplessly strapped down. "You were not my target, Veshch, but all prizes are good prizes."

"Target?" Devon asked, heaving out anxious breaths. He still couldn't seem to find the flames, but the longer he drew out this conversation, the warmer he felt. 

"A pyrokinetic is nothing to me." He frowned. Experimentation on pyrokinetics was widespread a number of years ago, information and technology derived from those powers is common knowledge among the intelligence community. "But any opportunity to learn is an opportunity to me."

Devon kept the scientist's attention on him the best he could, he noticed that the ice that had covered a majority of the room's surface had begun to melt. He felt heat returning to his limbs. He feared that he might've been drugged, but as he noticed his abilities seeming to return, that possibility was unlikely. 

"Nothing to you?" Devon asked. "You must have an amazing ability then." It was facetious, he was trying to keep the man engaged. 

"Do not be disgusting." Nikolai snarled. "You 'atypicals' are abominations." Everything he did he claimed for the benefit of the commoner. "My life's work has been dedicated to protecting innocent commoners from the 'atypical' scourge."

At least he was honest. Devon winced at being called an abomination. It wasn't the first time. But that was hardly the most pressing issue. "If I wasn't your 'target'-" Devon changed subjects, the man seemed vainglorious enough to monologue about his master plan. "-who was?"

"You were traveling with some one we had been monitoring for a long time." Nikolai frowned. "A disgusting monster, but someone who will be of great use to our work."

"Who?" Devon knit his brow. He needed to protect his siblings, even if his power was impotent and he was the youngest, he couldn't forgive himself if he'd let another person in his family die.

"Jasper Valentine is a Veshch with a very interesting ability." Nikolai droned, pulling up a rolling surgical table. Devon began squirming in his restraints. "Experimenting on him will accelerate our work, the Chelovecheskiy Sovet will find its goal."

"Experiment?" Devon repeated back. He could feel the restraints starting to give from around his wrists. If he tried to conjure a blast of fire, he'd be able to. His powers were back to normal. He didn't know if he could stop him with that fire, but if he could free his hands and reach the scalpel on the table he could end it.

"Yes, Veshch. We will cut him open and extract his ability. And after you and your brothers are made to watch his agonizing death, you will follow shortly after." Nikolai's eyes widened, driven by madness. He reached over and grabbed the scalpel from the table. "But first we shall begin the vivisection post-haste."

"NO!" Perhaps it was the rush of adrenaline meeting the realization of his siblings immanent deaths, but the flames of his being reached a cataclysmic tipping point. Devon screamed in defiance, a combustive maelstrom of searing flame erupted from his mouth. The jet-stream of intense fire blasted Nikolai directly, burning away his top-clothes and throwing him back onto the floor. Devon managed to tear his arms and legs from the now melted binds and leapt from the table, running out into the hallway. 

He had no plan, Devon just had to act. He was in an unknown place, and if he were lucky, his siblings were there too. Nathan didn't get away either, Devon worried he was there too. He ran out and rounded the corner, leaving behind the agonized wails of the man he left burning in an examination room.

'Two, three, four...' He thought to himself, swinging open empty examination rooms searching for his compatriots. Devon needed to find them, he couldn't let anything happen to them. The further he ran the more the pressure built up in his chest. The more empty rooms he found, the greater that panic became. The atypical rounded another corner only to run face-first into a wall of a person, throwing him flat on his backside.

Devon grunted, looking up at the enormous silhouette. The figure was build like a brick, as she stepped into the light Devon's stomach fell into his feet. The large woman, an atypical, was strapped into some kind of device. It held her eyes open, probes extended from the device into the woman's skull.

"Wha-" He started to ask before he was interrupted by an enormous meaty palm. She grabbed Devon by the face and lifted him into the air. 

"I am glad you got to meet my blood hound." A familiar voice called from behind them. Weak, but very much the voice of Nikolai Federov. "You would have had to meet eventually." His burnt skin was sloughing off, third degree burns, but otherwise he was behaving nearly as if he were uninjured.

'Blood hound'? Devon thought, he couldn't get his face free of the hound's grasp. He swung his flame enrobed fist at the woman's face in an attempt to free himself. To no avail, however, she caught his arm with her other hand.

"Tsk tsk, Devon Valentine. Assault is frowned upon, don't you know?" The burned man reprimanded as his hound snapped his forearm like a toothpick. Devon's screams flooded the silence of the hallways. "Your Radius and your Ulna are broken." He continued. "My pet will tear the rest of your arm off should you continue to resist."

Devon's breath was labored, sharp breaths through his teeth. The bones in his forearm were nearly liquefied, the pain was nothing like anything he'd ever experience. Though there was nothing to be done. He couldn't escape this woman, her ability had to be some kind of super strength, he was completely vulnerable. 

"What did you do to her?" Devon asked, his voice muffled by the woman's palm and weakened by his physical trauma. There was something wrong with the woman, the device on her head was doing something to her.

"Petulant Veshch, you and I will have much fun together."


	7. In Darkness: Devon

Time became a blur. The injuries Devon sustained were severe, not life threatening, that is until he went into shock. It would seem that Federov wasn't done with the young atypical, Devon found that his arm had been repaired. Repaired is a strong word, the sheer destruction of his right arm couldn't have been fixed by basic first aid. His arm was essentially liquefied. When Devon found himself drifting into consciousness in the following weeks, he noted the searing pain of his ruined limb. 

He had no was of knowing how much time had passed, what time he spent awake felt like a dream. There was nothing but darkness and pain, but Devon could accept the nothingness over the pain. In a moment of lucidity, Devon felt himself being wheeled down a dimly lit hallway strapped to his table. His arm screamed in pain, though he found himself conscious off new injuries. Pain in his abdomen, shooting pain down his spine.

The rolling stopped. Whoever was wheeling Devon around was gone, and he opened his eyes. The room was dim but not completely dark, old lamps flooded the corners of the room with dingy amber light. Wherever Devon was, he wasn't being move to anywhere else any time soon. Devon let himself return to his own body. It was the first time in who knows how long that he found himself lucid, within himself and aware. Drugged, perhaps. He let his eyes adjust to the weak light, turning his head against the hard table to take in what ever surroundings there were.

"Devon?" A weak voice asked, a figure bathed in the shadow called out to him. "You're alive?" 

Devon squinted, trying to force himself to see who the man was. The voice was strained, it wasn't one that he immediately recognized. He struggled to adjust to the dark but found that the dim light back-lit the other. Devon reached back into himself, even given his weakened state, it didn't appear that what ever these people did to him took away his ability. His control was weakened, he could tell, but he could conjure something. He heaved as deep a breath as he could and exhaled. Though it was fire, it was very weak. Weaker than when he'd cut off access to his own power in his youth. Strength wasn't what the young atypical was going for, however. The small combustive burst spread out in a small fireball before dispersing, but it lit up the room enough for Devon to see who was in the room with him. It was Nathan.

Weak and broken, Nathan was in a similar state to Devon. Strapped to his respective table, cut up and experimented on. He could see Nathan's bruised face staring at him.

"Nathan!" Devon cried in a hushed shout. He intended to free everyone, but he was foiled so quickly. "You too!" If Nathan was worried that Devon had died, then things suddenly didn't look so good for the others. "What's....what's going on?" 

"They've been drugging you." Nathan said. "You and Tristan fought back so much, they wanted to make an example."

"An example?" Devon quietly heaved. "What is this place?"

"You think I know?" He sighed. "This is just like the AM but worse."

"I'd never been to the AM." Devon explained.

"Lucky man." He said, almost chuckling.

"My ability didn't appear in earnest until much later in life. I was born with it but uh, I don't know." Devon continued.

"Well, the AM back in the United States didn't have any oversight. Experiments that were like these ones weren't out of the question, man." Nathan had fled the United States for this very reason. The AM facility in California, as with the facility in Massachusetts, has had very little governmental oversight in the past few years. "I don't like to talk about it, but my ability is pretty unique." 

"Yeah, you showed me back in that bar. It was really cool." He smiled.

"I'm the only person I've ever heard have this ability, the same goes for the AM." Nathan sighed. "They held me captive, tried to find where my ability came from."

"That sounds horrible." He said. 

"I mean, we're in the same situation now, it doesn't sound like anything. It IS horrible." Nathan replied.

"Yeah, you're right." Answered before letting the air fall to silence.

"Can I ask you something?" Nathan asked, cutting into it. "You said your power didn't show up until recently?"

"Yeah, on my twentieth birthday." Devon sighed.

"That's pretty late, huh?" Nathan continued.

"I was born with my ability." Devon explained. "I haven't met alot of other atypicals, but all of my brothers started showing their abilities at puberty. I had my ability from when I was born."

"Wow, really?" Nathan tried to raise his head, but the strain of pushing against the restraints were too painful and he laid back down. "That's not too common. But you said you didn't show until you turned twenty."

"Yeah, I uh..." Devon cut himself off, he swallowed hard. 

"You don't have to talk about it man, I didn't mean to jab old wounds." Nathan said.

"No, it's uh-" He sighed. "we're kind of already seeing each other at our most vulnerable."

"Yeah, you aren't wrong." 

"When I was born I killed my mother." Devon said.

Nathan seemed to have been at a loss for words. Perhaps he just wanted to let Devon speak, but he had no retort to what he'd said.

"My body temperature was so high that it left her with severe third degree burns. Inside and out." Devon continued. "She didn't live much longer after. Or so I'm told."

"That sounds rough, man." Nathan said.

"I didn't get to know her, obviously. But my older brothers resented me for it. Our father left early on too, couldn't look at the one who killed his wife." Devon sighed. "Lucky for us Leonard was old enough that we didn't end up on the street."

"Wow, I wasn't expecting all that. I'm sorry." Nathan said. 

"Thanks." He smiled, as weak as it was. "On the bright side, my brothers resenting me didn't last too long. My brother Jasper's ability caused us trouble more often than I did."

"What's his ability?" Nathan asked.

"You saw it before they took us." Devon said. "He can make people act wild. He can take their inhibitions. He can't always control it though."

"That's why there was that bar fight?"

"Yeah." Devon sighed.

There was silence now. The conversation tapered off, and the two sat in silence for who knows how long. It wasn't an awkward silence, though. Nathan had turned his head to look at Devon, just to stare at him. Examine his features in the darkness. He found him to be cute, despite his broken visage. 

"What your brother said..." Nathan finally said.

"Who said what?" Devon asked.

"When we were running from that pub, before those dicks kidnapped us. He said something about you asking me on a date?"

"Oh well, he uh-" Devon chucked nervously.

"I would've said yes." Nathan chuckled back.

"Well, this isn't a very good first date, is it?" Laugh through the pain, he guessed.

"Yeah, not my first choice." Nathan laughed but began to groan in pain. "Hurts." He said through the pain.

"What do we do now?" Devon asked, looking up at the ceiling above him.

"I don't know, but once we get out of here you'll have to take me on a real date." Nathan said with a smile.


	8. In Darkness: Jasper

"Good morning, young Veshch." The man's russian accent bounded on the air, his personage was always deceptively friendly. Federov's visage of courtesy was a mask for his cruelty. It didn't matter how many times he claimed his work was for the benefit of humanity, it couldn't change what he'd done in his life. His crooked form stepped into the room, his features mangled by his encounter with Devon. "I must apologize that it took me so long to get to you. There was an incident with a little fire starter." Federov mused.

Jasper was strapped to a table, his arms bound and his mouth muzzled. For what ever reason, Federov believed Jasper to be the most dangerous of the brothers. Maybe it was true, but he learned quickly that the others wouldn't hesitate to attack. 

But despite Jasper's reluctance to even come to Germany in the first place, he put up the most resistance once the group had arrived to this facility. His ability wasn't a physical one, Tristan was the one to always defend the group. When he was around, that is. Jasper managed to knock out three scientists and he bit the ear off of a fourth.

"Da, you cannot speak through your muzzle." Federov said, a pompous grin stretched across his scarred lips. "You will forgive me, should any of my assistants come in we do not want to risk an incident with your ability."

Jasper struggled against his binds, as he did since they were taken there. Any one of his brothers would believe that he would have been the first to surrender to hopelessness, but perhaps that it was being faced with true death that Jasper found his survival instinct stronger than ever. He chewed at the gag keeping him from speaking, trying to speak.

"Among all of the rare abilities in this world, yours is the one that will benefit my work the most." Federov smiled at the thought of the opportunity he finally had. "I have worked for years to eradicate your wretched kind. When the americans worked so hard to make the atypical community work for them, they failed to recognize that true potential."

Jasper managed to loosen his muzzle and it slid to his chin. "You're a lunatic." He finally said.

"No, I am the only one with vision." Federov answered. "The american AM focus their attention on the wrong things. While they struggle to develop a drug to make humans immune to your vile abilities, I intent to do true work for humanity."

"True work? Truer than immunity? What the hell does that mean?" 

"My work had stagnated for so long, the device I created to allow atypicals to finally serve humanity was useful for a time, but I needed room to grow." Federov had initially been a scientist who specialized in atypical biology, when even the Russian government condemned his research, he realized that he had to pursue his goals on his own. "Show him!" He commanded, yelling to whomever was waiting for him in the hallway outside.

A huge form stepped into the door frame, a woman. Perhaps she was an atypical. Jasper examined her, nothing the horrific device attached to her head. He remained silent, silencing his own horror at what ever torments this woman must have gone through. She stepped into the room, her head nearly smacking against the low-hanging light fixture.

"This is my dear Alia. My pet." Federov sneered. "She is the limit of my work." He continued. "Now, my hound, remove your fourth finger." He coldly commanded. A display of power, what his work was meant to accomplish. Alia grabbed the scalpel from the medical tray next to where Federov was sitting. She brought the blade up to her hand, point pressed into her left pinky finger. She hesitated.

Nikolai heaved a heavy breath, retrieving a small remote control from his lab coat. "Pizdets." He sighed in his native tongue. The scientist ran his thumb over an aggregate of buttons before his finger found its home on one. As he pressed the button, Alia wretched in pain. She violently writhed, what ever device Federov was using was driving obedience through violence. Even if the woman didn't seem to be able to speak, she was conscious under what ever conditioning and modification she'd gone through.

When the writhing ceased, Alia immediately turned her attention back to the scalpel in her hand. She drove the blade into the base of her smallest finger, tearing flesh giving way to metal grinding on bone. Blood poured from her hand, spraying Jasper and staining the doctor's white coat. It appeared Alia couldn't scream, but her muffled wails filled the examination room, grunting in agony as she gouged her flesh and bone.

The horrific process came to an end, Alia had severed her small finger at the bone, placing it in the collection tray next to her. A sinister grin crawled across Federov's scarred face. "Things are much simpler when you obey, pet." He said, gesturing for the bleeding woman to leave the room, leaving behind a pool of blood where she once stood.

"She hesitated." Jasper said, more to himself than anyone else. "You're making people slaves? You're a monster."

"She is the monster. You are the monster, Veshch." Federov snapped. "But you are right, she hesitated. My work is imperfect. You are exactly what I have needed for so long. You will help me complete what I was always mean to."

"You're getting nothing out of me." He growled.

"You will get nowhere resisting. Once I take your ability for my personal use, I will be able to develop the perfect hounds." Federov gloated. "Your brother said much the same. I hadn't been tracking him, I did not know what his abilities were. Such a powerful illusionist was another missing piece."

"Leonard? What did you do to Leonard?"

"It does not matter, taking his ability was glorious." Federov stood up. 

"You can't take away an atypical's ability." Jasper said. It was something he always knew, it was the first thing he learned at the AM. The time he spent in Tier Four was met with that question a lot. Could they take away the abilities of dangerous atypicals? The answer was unilaterally no.

"Well, young veshch, you lack creativity." Federov looked down at the bound man. "It was never out of the question that scientists could harness the abilities of atypicals. Creating soldiers with distilled psychic abilities. Creating drugs from them. I have taken it a step further."

Jasper's face grew pale.

"Leonard's final breaths were exquisite." Federov gloated. "And as I took the biological atypical imperative for myself, I have never felt quite so joyous."

"What did you say?" Jasper's voice broke, it took a minute for it to hit him. 

"Your brother's death served my work splendidly. I am perhaps the first scientist to discover that you can harvest the ability of an atypical at full strength, and it comes with the benefit that the atypical scum dies in the process."

"Don't." Jasper said quietly. Tears began welling up in his eyes. The adrenaline of his captured state had finally worn off, he was faced with the reality that he failed. Even through his many failings in his life, he couldn't forgive himself for not being able to protect his siblings better. He was always the one causing trouble for his family. 

"And you will be next. With your ability to erase the inhibition of anybody around you, I will create the perfect atypical hunting hounds and we will be on track to eradicating your kind once and for all." Federov gloated. "Shall we begin?"

"No, no! Get away from me!" Jasper screech, though he couldn't break free from his straps. Federov moved to loom over him, and as Jasper looked into his eyes he realized that there was nothing looking back. 

Federov joyously grabbed the scalpel from the tray, not even bothering to clean the blood from earlier. It was his favorite thing to languish in the agony of those on whom he worked. He, of course, found no reason to use any sort of anesthetic. Federov moved over to the head of the table, scalpel in hand. 

Despite his madness, the doctor had precision in his work. He pressed the sharp end of the scalpel slowly into Jasper's scalp. He grinned in glee at Jasper's screams, pressing the blade in harder to elicit a stronger agony response. He cut a square of thick flesh from Jasper's scalp and peeled it back using his bare fingers.

Jasper wailed in agony and Federov did nothing to quell them. He enjoyed them. Federov placed the slab of excised skin into a surgical tray, blood had poured from Jasper's open scalp onto the front of Federov's jacket and onto the floor. He moved over to the foot of the table to retrieve several other tools. 

Medical advancements over the past few decades granted surgeons more efficient technology for neurosurgery, but Nikolai preferred the classics. It allowed for him to get in close and breathe in the agony. He returned to his Jasper's exposed skull with a power drill and circular hand saw. 

Jasper's screams had become weaker whimpers, unable to find the energy to wail any longer. Federov pressed the end of the power drill against the red stained ivory of Jasper's skull and pulled the trigger. The squeal of the drill and the scraping of bone quickly drowned out any screams, throwing bone dust into the air. It took some time, but Federov marked out the stencil by which his handsaw would carve into the plate of Jasper's skull.

He took no time going for the handsaw. Jasper was now motionless, his body had descended into shock. Federov turned on the power source for the vicious device, it's sound even louder than the power drill before. The room was soon filled with bone dust. The handsaw grinded along the lines created by Federov's power drill holes. Blood spattered as the saw cut through the bone into the membrane surrounding the brain.

As soon as the sawing ceased, Federov took scalpel to bone. He drove the blade of the scalpel in between the bone plates of the skull that he'd cut, prying the square panel free exposing the atypical's brain. 

"Finally, my favorite part. I do hope you are still with me." Federov laughed, teasing the unresponsive Jasper. Thus, his true work began. He took his scalpel and began cutting away portions of grey matter, tossing useless pieces aside in search for the treasure he had been searching for.

Jasper was fading, his body seizing and retching at the doctor's invasive prodding. Tears stained his face, through the darkness of death, his last thoughts were on his brothers.

"I'm sorry, guys."


	9. Black Diamond

Two of the Valentine brothers now lay dead. It wasn't that Nikolai Federov wanted to keep his violent deeds a secret, he intended for Devon to watch them die. That trauma would have been entertaining. He got too carried away, if he wanted to complete his work, it had to be now. He just had to make sure to make it up to Devon, by torturing him just as brutally. 

His work, however, would be completed in this facility. Federov's discovery of the physiological center of the average atypical's powers revolutionized his work, allowing him to develop technology to harvest an atypical's ability and integrate them into his own new technology. Over the past several years, he'd managed to harvest a number of useful abilities, but none was more valuable to the beginning of his research than one he harvested from a young man in France.

It was a unique ability, Federov found the young man after his own men caught him using his ability in public. The young man, Federov came to call him 'The First', had the ability to manipulate biological material. The most obvious application of the ability is to heal wounds, help people whose bodies were damaged. But what Federov discovered was a secondary application, the ability to spontaneously generate biological material. When the boy consumed enough sugar, he could transmute that material with physical materials nearby to create living tissue.

Federov took this boy from his parents, claiming to be the headmaster of a school for atypical children. This boy was the first the scientist was able to successfully harvest an ability from, and in short order he developed the first generation of his hounds. The brain matter stolen from the boy didn't seem to die, in fact after being left alone, it generated an entirely new brain to replace what it had been taken from.

Federov found that through his technology he could integrate the abilities harvested from young atypicals into this spontaneous brain, and the brain would display signs of using the ability. He eventually collected the correct mixture of abilities, by placing a contraption of his own design onto an atypical he could begin to control them. Sending pain directly to their nervous system or increasing their suggestibility, his pets did what ever he asked.

But they were mindless, the combination of abilities and technology subsuming the atypical's free will made them next to useless without Federov's leash. That was the incentive to obtain Jasper Valentine, and it was pure happenstance that Leonard Valentine's ability was so fitting for Federov's concoction.

"With these two final pieces, my hounds will be perfect." Federov said, stepping into his personal laboratory. He wheeled in a tray with two beakers filled with fluid for preservation and chunks of grey matter. He pushed the wheeled cart up to a large glass tube, filled with another green liquid. "My true work can finally begin. I can begin to cull humanity for the true humans."

The dimly lit glass tube bubbled silently, twice the height as Federov and just as wide. Within, a mass of flesh. Based on appearance, it used to be a brain. Slightly larger than the average adult brain, it bore two alert eyes and the beginnings of outer biology. Ivory plates had begun growing around a large antennae like device driven deep between the two hemispheres. The connection between Federov's source of power and his pets.

Devon laid silently, unawares of the fates befallen his siblings. Another day swirling in his brain, excruciating and invasive experiments under anesthesia. Time was meaningless to the two, Nathan's grip on anything concrete had faded quickly over the past months. The times where the two of the men were lucid at the same time were growing rarer, the time they spent talking to each other was the only thing getting Devon through it.

"Nathan." Devon whispered, trying to get the attention of the other. He didn't stir at first, Devon worried something was wrong. More wrong than the obvious, of course. "Are you there?" He continued.

"...yes." He responded quietly. Nathan's voice was even more despondent than usual.

"Are you okay?" Devon asked.

"...no." Nathan whispered. "I heard one of the doctors talking."

"Talking about what, Nathan?" Devon asked, he could feel a pressure building in his chest. Something was wrong.

"They're gonna take my ability, Devon." His voice was trembling. "They have to kill me to take it." He didn't know what scared him more, the prospect of death or the fact that he almost wanted it to escape this living hell.

"No, they won't." Devon said sternly.

"I don't think I mind." He sighed. "This will finally end-"

"No!" Devon interrupted, shouting a whisper. "We're getting out of here, I'm getting us all out of here. I can feel my ability returning."

"They stopped you from getting out before, Devon." Nathan frowned. 

"They don't know my ability is coming back, if I burn the whole facility down-"

"That's a bad plan." Nathan cut him off.

The door swung open, slamming against the wall, flooding the room with the fluorescent light from the hallway. The familiar silhouette of Doctor Nikolai Federov stood in the door frame. His scarred visage stepped into the dim light of the room, his crooked grin cracked across his face.

"What do you want?" Devon asked, he hadn't seen the doctor in person in quite some time. He felt his heart drop into his stomach. 

"I know that you are invested in my work, Veshch." Federov sneered. "I wanted to tell you that I have accomplished what I had set out to do."

"Accomplished?" Devon repeated back. 

"Yes, your brothers' abilities have served me well." He grinned. "Their deaths will not go to waste."

"What did you say?" It was a punch in the gut. It was the worst news he could possibly hear, a stab in the heart. It took him a moment, what felt like years, for him to realize what Federov was really saying. "What did you just say, you fuck?" He snarled.

"I enjoyed the blood, the screams." Federov mused, walking up to the foot of Devon's table. "You and your little friend will soon join them. I will be rid of you scum."

"No, no!" Devon struggled against his restraints, the heat of his ability building up inside him. Tears streaming down his face, the skin on his face began turning red. His body temperature skyrocketing. "Fuck you!" He growled. "I'll kill you!" He threatened.

Federov slithered around the side of the table, staring down at his prey, scalpel in hand. "And do I intend to pay you back for these scars you gave me." He added, the cruel joy on his face disappearing, only replaced by his intent to kill. "I will enjoy-"

He was interrupted by an explosion in the hallway, shrapnel and rubble flying by the room's open door. The building shook from the attack, knocking Federov off his feet. "Pizdets!" The doctor shouted, regaining his footing as the rumbling ceased. He pulled himself up, steadying himself on the counter on the opposite side of the room. "Do not worry, I will be back for you." Federov leered at Devon before walking toward the doorway. 

"Doctor Federov!" A man ran around to meet him, trailing blood pouring from an enormous wound across his torso. Almost as if he had been gouged by a lion's claws, his clothing was torn and bloodstained. "The facility is under attack." The man struggled to get out, his constitution failing due to blood loss.

"Who?" Federov asked, pressing a button on the device in his pocket. 

"They're atypicals." The man struggled to answer. "They blitzed security."

"Perfect." Federov sneered as his pet Alia arrived to aid him. He moved around the wounded scientist to deal with the intruders personally. As he left, he pressed another button on his hound device, instructing his personal weapon to act.

Alia followed her master's command, she reached out and gripped the wounded scientist by the top of his head. He struggled against her strength as she lifted him up, grabbing at her wrist with both hands. "Wha- what are you doing?" He struggled to say, his body weakening rapidly due to blood loss. She didn't respond, she couldn't. She gripped the top of his head harder, reaching with her other hand to grip his shoulder.

Suddenly it was over, his struggling ceased as she gripped his head and twisted. The hulk of a woman popped the man's head off and tossed it aside, leaving his body in a blood soaked slump against the door frame. Devon and Nathan looked on in horror, unable to do anything to save the man, Devon still dealing with the trauma of learning his brothers' deaths. Alia left the blood bath as mechanically as she came to it, intent to return to her master's call.

"Devon!?" A voiced called out, a voice that Devon hadn't heard in a long time. He heard the clamor, a series of doors opening and then closing. Searching. Soon enough, a man slid by the door, seeing that the door was open. Only mildly disturbed at the sight of a decapitated corpse, the man rushed into the room and up to the table where Devon was strapped down.

"Tr-Tristan!?" Devon shouted, completely overwhelmed at seeing his brother. "That lunatic doctor said you were dead." He said, tears returning to his eyes.

"No, no Devon. But Leonard and Jasper are gone." He said morosely, moving to unfasten Devon's restraints.

Before Devon could respond, two more people ran into the room. Two women, neither of them recognizable to him. The first was tall and fit with dark skin and long braids, her dark features were rough and serious. The second was shorter than the first, her skin was fair but marked with scarring. She seemed much less serious, but her buzzed hair almost made her look more serious.

"This is my brother." Tristan said, looking back at the women. "And these two broke in here to free the atypicals being kept here." He turned back to Devon, freeing his good arm.

"Tristan, please..." Devon sighed, lifting himself in a way to reach his other arm restraint. "Help Nathan, he's getting weaker." He motioned to Nathan, who had been thus unseen. He'd been drifting in and out of consciousness. Tristan went to his table and began working on his restraints.

"I'm afraid you three are the only ones left." The dark skinned woman said. 

"We'd learned that a dozen atypicals were being held here." The light skinned woman added. "What ever these monsters are doing here, they don't care if they kill us."

"You're atypicals too?" Devon said, trying to unfasten his arm restraint.

"My name is Black Diamond." The dark skinned woman said. 

"They call me Rust." The light skinned woman added.

"Black Diamond? Rust?" Devon didn't really get it, those weren't normal names. He finally freed his other arm and sat straight up. He stared at his bad arm, he could move it, but not very well.

"They're our atypical names." Black Diamond explained, walking over to the table where Devon sat. Something changed in her finger, it became ridged, or sharp, it was hard for Devon to see in the low light. She ran her finger over the restraints on Devon's ankles and they fell away. "We were rejected by normal human society, so we rejected them."

"Black Diamond and I met in the AM back in America, we realized that as long as we exist, there's always gonna be someone hunting us." Rust explained. "It was her idea to create a sanctuary to help atypical fugitives."

"Atypicals have it far worse overseas." Black Diamond said, helping Devon stand. "We take atypical names to be symbols for wayward victims." 

Tristan helped Nathan off of his table, but he was in worse shape than Devon. Tristan was forced to carry him, though he was quite light. Devon had trouble standing as well, his knees buckled and his legs felt like jelly. Tristan was able to overcome any atrophy he experienced during the past year of experiments using his ability to harden his body.

"Rust, we need to move." Black Diamond said sternly, draping Devon's arm over her shoulder. Rust and Tristan nodded in agreement and the three of the rushed as quickly as they could out of the room. The three stepped over the slumped over corpse and ran as fast as they could in the opposite direction.

"Federov has an atypical serving him, she's strong." Devon heaved between breathes. He did his best to keep up with Black Diamond but being out of commission for so long wore on him. "She broke my arm with her finger and Federov has her on some kind of leash."

"Then we avoid her." Tristan said.

"We set off explosives at the north entrance to draw everyone there." Black Diamond explained. "We'd hoped to save more, but the five of us can sneak out of the south entrance in the chaos."

The group ran down the southward hall to their designated exit point, rounding the corner the exit fell into sight. Tristan let out a sigh of relief, they would finally get out of this hellhole, what was left of them, at least. The wall to their right suddenly got smashed, brick and mortar shattered and dust covered their escape. An enormous form stepped through the dust, effortlessly throwing slabs of broken wall out of the way. 

"He must've known." Devon lamented. "He sent her back!"

"Alia?" Black Diamond recognized the woman, what was left of her at least. She was interrupted by a huge fist, Alia punching with intent to kill. Black Diamond was quick enough to dodge backward, Alia's fist punched through the tile floor. "Alia, don't you recognize me?" Black Diamond pleaded. She handed Devon off to Rust so she could try to deal with the woman.

"Do you know her?" Devon quietly asked Rust. 

"Alia was part of the Diamonds, the group Black Diamond started." And the group responsible for rescuing them, of course. "We thought she'd been killed in a raid. I guess it was much worse than we thought."

"That's horrible." Devon frowned.

"Please." Black Diamond begged before throwing up her arms in defense, sharpening her skin to hold back Alia's fist. She showed off her own formidable strength, managing to hold back Alia's fist using her own ability. 

"What's your ability, kid?" Rust asked.

"Fire." Devon whispered back.

"Black Diamond's ability is hardening and sharpening of her body, she's basically fireproof." Rust explained. "If you can blast Alia, Black Diamond won't get hurt and we'll have the chance to escape."

"I dont-" Devon sighed, looking at his good hand. "I can try." 

"Be ready." Rust nodded to Tristan, a nod that was returned. 

Devon clenched his fist, feeling the heat under his skin move up and down his good arm. It moved through his body, into his chest and up to his face, and he could feel the intensity of his fire growing. He held his hand out, fire swirled around his finger tips. It was different than it was before, it was blue. It was hot. Hotter than normal.

"Now!" Rust called, and Devon attacked. He focused a blazing blue stream of searing fire right through Black Diamond and into Alia. It was hotter fire than he'd ever conjured, his fingers began to burn. The fire passed right over Black Diamond, but it didn't seem to affect Alia all that much. In the chaos, Alia reached out and grabbed Black Diamond by the top of her head.

"Stop!" Devon yelled, remembering what happened to the last person who found themselves in the grasp of this huge atypical. He pushed himself, the rage of the trauma and loss he and the people close to him experienced over these past couple months bubbled up into his ability. The fire became more and more concentrated, the heat rapidly increasing. The blue fire turned hot burning white, the scream of the boiling air around it filled the air, the wallpaper began to peel off the wall. 

It started to work, the fire blast was moving Alia. She began grunting in pain, her skin bubbling and sloughing off. The heat was even too much for Black Diamond. She managed to free herself from Alia's melting fingers, but felt her diamond form also cracking under the intense heat.

"Let's go!" Black Diamond shouted, scurrying across the floor away from Alia's burning form and releasing her sharpened form so she didn't shatter. Devon stopped firing but quickly lost consciousness. Black Diamond got back up and assisted Rust in carrying him, and the five ran for the exit. 

They kicked the doors open and ran out, carrying out the unconscious atypicals, leaving behind the chaos of the facility. Alia's muffled screams poured from the open doors as she collapsed.

"Damn it!" Diamond frowned, her eyes welling with tears. Alia was one of the first great losses the Diamonds ever experienced, to find out she'd been made a slave to the very people they were fighting against destroyed her. "We haven't seen the last of this Federov."


	10. White Hot Hate

"Devon, tell me, has your ability ever manifested that way before?" Joan asked, she'd been taking diligent notes as she listened to the story Devon was telling. She found that writing her own thoughts in addition to recording the sessions functioned well to allow her thorough. "Last night when you accidentally burned down your room, was that fire like the fire you used to escape that facility?"

"Funny thing to be interested in." Devon sighed. He was surprised that the way he used his ability most intrigued her, not the facility itself, or the atypical slaves. "But uh, no." He added. "That was the only time I did that." He said, looking down at his scarred hand. "Ever since I got taken into the AM, I couldn't produce any flames that burned at all until last night."

"Panic and anxiety can make abilities like yours unstable. It isn't the first time I've come across a situation like yours." Not to say that she often comes across atypicals who've been experimented on by a foreign entity and lived to tell the tale. "We can help you sort through your trauma, but the more I hear about your ability the more I can see that maybe you aren't just a pyrokinetic."

"Yeah, I don't know about that." He sighed. 

"It appears that currently you're unable to control your power as precisely as you did in the past, but I do have a theory about the true nature of your ability." Joan said, examining Devon's tired face. "Your body temperature and flush skin are not very common when it comes to pyrokinetics."

"What are you saying?" Devon asked, raising a brow.

"I believe that your true ability is temperature manipulation." Joan said confidently.

"Temperature?" Devon repeated back.

"How familiar are you with astrophysics, Devon?" She asked.

"Uh, basic stuff?" He was only in university briefly, he took a variety of classes and was kicked out before he learned anything useful. "I took an intro to physics course."

"I'm not incredibly familiar with it either." Joan smiled. "But when astronomers classify stars, it's by color. Red spectrum stars are the coolest and white spectrum stars are the hottest."

"And you think my power is like that because my flames turned white that one time?" Devon asked incredulously. He shifted in his chair to rest his weight on his other arm. 

"Yes, you're manipulating temperature. All things have a burning point, a point at which something ignites into flames." Joan nodded. "The fire is just a byproduct of your true ability."

"And that's why until last night my fire hasn't burnt anything?"

"There was another part of your story that makes me think that temperature is the true source of your ability." Joan added, shuffling through the notes she'd written down. "Your first memory of waking up in that facility, you mentioned the low temperature in the room, correct?"

"Uhm, yes." Devon nodded. "I remember waking up freezing, what's weird about that?"

"You also mentioned that this Doctor Federov also commented on how cold it was." Joan added. "to me that sounds like someone who didn't make the room cold intentionally."

"Are you saying that I did that?" Devon asked incredulously. 

"I believe that your ability is temperature manipulation and it's heavily connected to your emotional state." Joan said. "It's not uncommon for abilities to be tethered to an atypical's emotions, that's why people like me are necessary."

"I've only ever made fire. My mom died because of it." Devon frowned. It was something he bore his entire life, the first thing he ever did was kill someone. "I tricked myself for years into thinking I couldn't use it so I'd stop hurting people! Are you saying that I could cool things all this time?"

"I believe that if you applied yourself to working with me, you could manipulate ice too." Joan smiled. "But understand that ice is also just as destructive, your ability is how you use it. You can't let something you didn't have any control over control you forever."

Devon didn't say anything in return, but let a visible frown crawl across his lips. As much as his brothers loved him, they blamed him for taking their mother and driving away their father. It was something he carried with him and hearing it from an outside person helped him, even if only a little. Leonard, Jasper and Tristan eventually apologized to him for how they treated him, but it's not easy to forgive someone for breaking up their family. 

"When you attacked the woman, Alia, to save the women who were breaking you out, what were you feeling." Joan asked.

"Anger." Devon sighed. "I was angry, I was tired. I was feeling hate." He clenched his jaw. "Federov." He growled. "I felt white hot hate, I was ready to burn the entire building down."

"Your rage was reflected in your ability. This white fire you produced is presumably the hottest you can raise the heat, your anger increased the scope of your ability." Joan explained. "But I hope to help you access your ability's range without having to rely on damaging emotions."

"Yeah, maybe." Devon sighed, releasing the tension in his jaw. 

"Do you remember what you felt when you woke up the first time in that facility?" Joan asked. 

"No, other than being confused." Devon recollected. "I was in that facility for nearly two years, my first memory of that place was waking up in that cold room."

"Okay." Joan exhaled. "Then we'll have to work up from the bottom. But before that, I think you should continue to tell me about what happened to you. I think it will be helpful." And it would be helpful for her. She needed information on this Federov and what his work was about. If Devon knew it, Joan could use it to help him.

"Yeah, uh..of course." Devon sighed. "After we-"

Devon was interrupted by knocking on the door. The door knob turned and the door creaked open behind him. "I'm in the middle of a session, you'll have to come back later." Joan said, leaning to speak to whomever was standing in the doorway.

"Sorry, Doctor Bright, but he's here." The man said, peaking his head in through the cracked door.

"Oh..." Joan nodded. "He arrived quicker than I expected." She added. "Devon, if it's okay with you, we can finish your story during another session?"

"Uh, yes." Devon nodded, he wasn't exactly in a hurry to recount all the horrible things that have happened.

"But there is someone I'd like you to meet." Joan said, standing up from her chair. 

"If you say so." He grumbled, standing up next to her.

Devon followed quietly behind Joan as the two exited the room, taking the same route the two had taken the night before. They remained silent, entering the elevator and pressing the button to return to the lobby of the facility. Devon had only been here for two days, he was worried about what Doctor Bright could possibly have in store for him. The two walked off the elevator in single file and into the facility's lobby.

"Devon." A voice said calmly from near the entrance.

"Tristan!" Finally a familiar face. Devon couldn't believe what he was seeing. When the two of them were apprehended in California, he didn't imagine he would ever see him again. Devon rushed over, nearly knocking Tristan off of his feet, squeezing him as tight as he could.

"I'm glad to see you too, kid." Tristan said, patting Devon on the back. "But you're hurting me."

"Right, sorry." Devon said, releasing him. The sudden excitement raised his body temperature, his skin was already bright red and hot to the touch but in the moment he could burn through his clothes. 

"When I learned that the two of you had been separated, I sent out inquiries to where he was being held." Joan cut in, walking over to the two of them. "The two of you didn't deserve to be separated after everything that happened."

"I uh-" Devon sighed. "Thank you." 

"Tristan will have to go through intake and processing, but since we finished your session so early the two of you could probably go get lunch together." Joan added with a smile. "I have some paperwork to do, so I'll leave you two in the hands of our agents."

"Right, of course." Devon nodded. 

"I could go for breakfast." Tristan cut in.

"We'll get you through processing as quickly as possible then." An approaching Agent Crawford said with a smile. "Come with me, I can tell you a little about our work here." Jackson said, inviting Tristan to walk with him.


	11. Brothers' Breakfast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A mini-chapter is a conversation between Devon and Tristan at breakfast

"Are you okay? Are you okay?" Devon sighed, worried. He hadn't seen Tristan in a month, perhaps. The two of them had been separated when they were apprehended by the AM out west, the last he saw of him was being dragged away by men in suits. Not an unfamiliar sight for the two of them. Tristan perhaps resented Devon the most of the other three brothers, there was always the lingering negativity surrounding his mother's death and the abandonment of their father. 

"Yeah, I'm fine." Tristan sighed. It'd been a rough morning for him, but seeing Devon again was a breath of fresh air. After everything the two went through over the past handful of years, Tristan realized that the resentment he held for his brother was wasted. This latest separation drilled it into his head that in reality the only person he could trust was Devon. 

"Where did they take you?" Devon asked. The two of them walked toward the main lobby's elevator, Devon was sure to check the map on the wall to find out where the commissary was located.

"We can talk about it over food, Dev." Tristan smiled, his face exhausted. "I'm hungry." 

Devon nodded, pressing the button to call the elevator. The door opened and the two stepped in. 

"How's your arm, Devon?" Tristan asked as the two stood in the box shaped vehicle. 

"It uh, it's sore." Devon said, raising his left hand to look at it. "I don't think the nerves were completely destroyed, I can still feel my hand sometimes."

"Maybe the AM can help." Tristan responded as the elevator doors slowly slid open.

Devon was hungry, he'd expended a lot of energy panicking the night before, so he went right for the breakfast buffet. Tristan followed behind, but didn't manage to keep up with him. The large open room was sprinkled sparsely with other patients and agents. Devon piled food on his plate but Tristan hung back and examined the others in the room. None stuck out, young kids, teen aged atypicals. No apparent danger. 

Devon returned to Tristan, carrying two plates of food, one for Tristan and one for himself. "I figured that you were just gonna choose where you wanted to sit." Devon said quietly, placing the plates down on a table next to them.

The two sat in silence for a few minutes, eating scrambled eggs and bacon. Devon got extra potatoes, he was very hungry. Tristan was eating much slower, he wasn't as hungry and his morning was a stressful one. 

"They took me to a facility in Ohio." Tristan finally said in between forkfuls of egg. "Almost close to home."

"Ohio? Why? They kept me in the facility in California?" Devon asked.

"I don't know, I'm sure it was to keep us separate." Tristan nodded.

"Well, we're together now. Director Bright seemed to want to bring us together." Devon sighed. 

"And you really trust her?" Tristan asked before Devon could continue.

"I-" Devon knit his brow. "I don't know. She's been...kind." He continued. She treated him differently than he was treated in the Californian facility, and it was nothing like the trauma they experienced at the hands of Federov's facility. 

"And how long does it take for her to not be?" Tristan asked, his voice in hushed tones.

"This isn't Radost Island." Devon said solemnly. "I don't know if we can trust the AM, if it's any different from the Chelovecheskiy Sovet, but Doctor Bright seems different."

Tristan frowned. "I won't let anyone take advantage of us again. I won't let anyone take."

"I know, Tristan." Devon frowned. 

"How is your ability?" Tristan asked after the two remained quietly eating for a few moments.

"I had another panic attack last night, burnt down my room." Devon said, slightly embarrassed.

"They're getting worse? The nightmares?" Tristan was having nightmares too, his ability wasn't nearly as destructive.

"Doctor Bright thinks my powers aren't what I think they are and that she can help me gain better control." Devon recollected. "I think she can help you too." 

"We'll see, Dev. We'll see."


	12. Frozen Heart

"I hope you and your brother had the chance to catch up, Devon." Joan nodded to the atypical sitting opposite her. She'd spent most of the rest of the day filing paperwork, some of Devon's remaining paperwork and most of Tristan's new arrival paperwork. "I know how painful it can be to be separated from family. It's shameful that you were separated in such a way."

"Yes, it was." Devon sighed, but there was a lighter air about him. Seeing Tristan again was something he dearly needed. "But I'm glad to see him, I'm glad to see he's okay. I failed him in California, I'm glad there was a way to fix it."

"That's good to hear." Joan said with a smile. "But I would like to get back to hearing what had happened to you and your siblings. We were interrupted in our earlier session and I think it would be beneficial to not lose our momentum." She added.

"Right, yeah." Devon nodded. "Where did I stop?"

"You left off..." Joan trailed off, examining her notes. "Right, you had displayed a level of power that you had never before reached and escaped with the help of two atypical freedom fighters. Does that sound right?" Joan asked.

"Right, Black Diamond and Rust." He sighed. "It wasn't a clean escape, and it wasn't just the two of them."

_____________________________________

"What's our plan?" Tristan growled, shifting the weight of the unconscious Nathan in his arm. He swung his weight around and over his shoulder, carrying him in a fireman's carry. "You got us out, but they're just gonna catch right up."

"Don't worry." Black Diamond smiled. "Our ride is here." The group had rushed into the woods near the facility's grounds. The escaped into the dark woods, the sun was beginning to dip under the horizon, the group could escape in the dark of the night.

"Took you losers long enough!" A strange voice called out from the darkness. "I was ready to leave without you."

"You know you couldn't live without us, LeFay." Black Diamond said with a half smirk. LeFay was tall, with golden skin and green eyes. Her hair was braided and tucked up into a short blonde bob wig, couldn't be older than twenty-one. She had a rapport with the other two, she was also a Diamond. 

"We're lost in the woods." Devon said quietly, he was drifting in and out of consciousness. He pulled himself off of Black Diamond's shoulder to lower himself onto the underbrush, careful not to put any weight on either of his hands. "What can she do?" He asked.

"Well kid, you're 'bout to have your mind blown." LeFay grinned.

"She's a teleporter." Rust explained. "One of the few who can port upwards of a dozen people at once. She's really amazing."

"Don't let my head get too big, Rust." She replied, a grin stretched across her lips. "But don't fall asleep kid, I'll give you a show you won't forget!" She declared.

"Just get us out of here, LeFay. There's no way we aren't being followed." Black Diamond said, looking over her shoulder.

"No problem, boss lady." LeFay nodded. She extended her left arm and traced the air in a circular path around her head. A circle of light sparked along the ground, surrounding the group before extending into a dome of light. With the addition of her second hand, she traced a circle counter to the first. In a flash, the sphere of light vanished; all that remained was a perfectly round crater, steaming in the cool evening air.

Devon lost consciousness in the process, the last thing he saw was the blinding light of her ability. Tristan held onto Nathan as to not lose him in the move. Given it wasn't the other's first time traveling this way, they remained calm.

Black Diamond wasn't wrong, the group was being pursued. A number of security officers were injured in their invasion, Federov took it on himself to track them down personally. Accompanied by his hound Alia, the two entered the woods to track his escaped wards. All he found was a smoldering crater.

"This is no good." Federov growled, standing at the edge of the gouged underbrush. Not only did these terrorists escape with his research, but they damaged his property. He cut his eyes to his hound, angered at the idea that his toy had been so badly burned. Her burns were far more severe than Federov's, portions of her face were burned down to bone; she would be dead if not for Federov's technology. "This is has been a setback, my hound. But now I can focus on the perfection of my work. My hounds will be perfect."

Federov turned to leave, gesturing for his enslaved atypical to follow behind. He would make use of her until he no longer needed to, she would soon be obsolete, and the two returned to the facility.

Black Diamond, Rust and LeFay stepped off the mound of dirt that had been brought with them. Tristan handed Nathan off to Black Diamond, she cradled him and brought him into the building they fell in front of. Tristan grabbed Devon off the ground and lifted him, following behind. The building was small and nondescript, no windows and was made of brick. Tristan noticed that the beach was visible from where they were, the building was hidden back far enough to not arouse interest from passersby. 

"What is this place?" Tristan asked, his volume at a whisper.

"A safe place." Rust said, opening the door. The building was perhaps a residence in the past, the door opened into a living area. The area was dimly lit by a fire roaring in the fire place, Tristan noticed that there were two people already inside. "The Diamonds established an outpost here on Radost Island, we use this old house as our base when operating here." She explained. 

"You should lay them down, Sharron." The voice of a man, it was gentle. He stepped into the light of the fire, his round features shined in the warm light. 

"Please call me Black Diamond." She said, gently laying Nathan's head on the pillow. "We shouldn't use our real names while we're working, Panacea." 

"As you wish, Black Diamond." He said softly. Panacea was an elderly atypical, he moved slowly around the room to Tristan, beckoning him to lay Devon down next to Nathan. "I'll heal them the best I can." He added, a warm smile appeared on his jovial face.

"You should join them." Rust said, turning to Tristan. "You were experimented on too, Panacea knows his stuff."

"Yeah...sure." Tristan said, though there was an air of uncertainty to his words. He sat down next to where his brother lay, nervously looking the elderly man.

Panacea slowly knelt down, laying his cane next to him. He gently took Devon's hand in his own, it's crooked form and severely bruised skin stuck out to Panacea's health-sense. Even without his ability it was easy to see how damaged the young man's arm was. Even with his ability, he wasn't certain that Devon's arm would ever get back to normal. 

He took a deep breath and placed his hand on Devon's arm. The temperature in Devon's arm began to climb, Panacea did what he could to physically restructure the limb on a cellular level. Restitching ligaments and torn muscles, mending bones, healing what nerves were left behind. Devon's breathing regulated, the pain is his limb had been greatly reduced.

"That was impressive." Tristan said, looking at his brother's arm, and turning his attention back to the old man. "What a cool ability."

"Thank you, young man." Panacea smiled, turning his attention to Tristan. "Years of exercising this muscle and I've honed it the best I can, it's not always perfect." He explained, moving to examine Tristan. "May I examine you?"

"Yes, uh yes." Tristan sighed nervously.

Panacea concentrated, placing his hands on Tristan's person. Aside from scars left over from invasive procedures, Tristan managed to avoid sustaining any lasting physical damage while in captivity. The old man was quickly able to heal what was out of place, but upon a final once over, he noticed something odd.

"Young Man, your ability-" Panacea started.

"I know." Tristan cut him off. "Don't tell Devon." He didn't want to have to rely on him. What ever was done to him, it cut off access to his ability. 

"It's not gone." Panacea continued, in the hope of comforting the young man. "I'm certain of it."

Tristan nodded, but declined to say more. Panacea slowly stood up, pulling himself up on his cane to walk over Nathan, who'd been unconscious the longest. He quickly knelt down on the other side of the group to attend to the young man. Nathan's breathing was steady but shallow, Panacea placed his hand on his chest.

His heart sank, Panacea's jovial expression slipped from his face. He looked around at the others in the room, uncharacteristic gravity in his eyes. "This is bad." He finally said, placing his second hand on the unconscious man. 

"What's going on?" Tristan asked, looking at everyone else, who all seemed resigned to Panacea's apparent revelation. As if they'd already seen this happen before. Something wasn't right, and the other's had seen it before.

"Sorry, there isn't a lot that I can do for him." Panacea finally said, taking his hands from Nathan. "I've healed him the best I could, and he's stabilized, but what ever happened to him..." He sighed. "He won't make it."

Tristan frowned. He didn't know Nathan, they were victims of circumstance. Devon was the one who knew him. He found a spot next to his brother and laid his head on a pillow given to him by Black Diamond. Panacea stood up slowly, his sullen visage permeating his entire personage. 

"Toxin." Rust said, addressing the man who before this point had remained silently in the background. "You and Black Diamond are first watch, Panacea, LeFay and I are going to go to sleep. Hope that nothing happens overnight and we can set sail in the morning."

"Of course." He responded, standing up from his chair in the corner. He was tall and round, his long black hair fell over his shoulders but was neatly kept from his face. He and Black Diamond were often paired together on assignment, she was immune to his ability so he could use it indiscriminately.

Rust, LeFay and Panacea all left the room together, departing into a dark hallway and finding the bedroom at the end of the hall filled with actual beds. Toxin walked past the three on the floor, turning back to look at Tristan. "You should sleep, my dude." He said with a smile. "Black Diamond and I will protect you."

Tristan heeded his advice, he closed his eyes, hoping to fall asleep quickly. 

Several hours later, silence had fallen on the house. Toxin and Black Diamond sat, watching through draped windows for any approaching danger. The two didn't talk much to each other, they didn't need to, their job was to watch. It was only when they noticed that the room had started growing colder that they broke the silence.

"Feel that?" Toxin asked, a cold draft swirling into the room. 

"Yeah, check the other side of the house. There might have been an intruder through a window." Black Diamond said, she worried that the draft was a result of negligent watching. That they weren't vigilant enough.

As Toxin moved across the room, he noticed something frosty out of the corner of his eye. The air around Devon's unconscious form began rapidly decreasing in temperature, the fire in the fireplace went out, and ice crystals began forming and around him. Toxin raised a brow before looking back at Black Diamond.

"Is that something he can do?" Toxin asked, slightly concerned.

"He blasted me with flames that were hot enough to crack my diamond form." Black Diamond said. 

"Blasted you with flames?" Toxin asked, concerned, his eyes going between Devon and Black Diamond. "He attacked you?"

"No, he blasted the atypical who had me in her grasp." She explained. "This Federov and his Chelovecheskiy Sovet are abducting atypicals and turning them into mindless slaves. Devon was forced to use his ability to fry an old friend of ours. She was a founding member of the Diamonds."

"Horrific." Toxin said. Before he could say anything else, the two were frozen in place by the rapidly descending temperature. Toxin managed to step backward, frost appearing on Devon's body quickly grew into huge ice crystals. 

Black Diamond jumped up, grabbing Nathan from his place on the ground and moving him out of the way of the growing ice. Toxin followed suit with Tristan, though he was unable to lift him. He pulled the bedroll he was laying on and slid him across the floor away from the ice.

"Devon, you need to wake up." Black Diamond said, doing her best to try to rouse Devon without waking anyone else up. The ice crystals soon became ice towers, lifting Devon off the ground. "Devon!" She called again.

Devon didn't wake up, but something changed. His breathing became shallow and panicked, he writhed on the throne of ice that had formed under him. Fire began spraying out of him, the ice began to melt under him. Black Diamond and Toxin approached him, Black Diamond was able to hold Devon's hand being mostly unaffected by his rapidly changing temperature.

He responded to the touch, calming him slightly. The flames stopped and and his temperature regulated, the ice melting under him. Toxin helped Black Diamond lower him back onto the ground, the water left over from the ice evaporating under Devon's heat.

"He's dangerous, Black Diamond." Toxin said, heaving a heavy sigh.

"So are you, Toxin." She shot back. "You were this kid."

"Fair." Toxin said. "Hopefully we can get him home and he won't have to become me."


	13. Goodbye

Morning came not long after, the dawn creeping over a fog covered forest. The dusty sun rays slipped in through the old drapes onto the sleeping men. Devon's face contorted against the light, unready to raise with the morning sun. The rest of the night was silent and uneventful, Rust and LeFay finishing up their shift in the following moments. Devon slowly pulled himself up on his elbows, examining the unfamiliar room.

"What's happening..." Devon sighed, his voice weak. He looked around, Tristan and Nathan not yet roused from their sleeps. The sound of his voice breaking the silence caught the attention of the drowsy night-guard.

"You're awake." Rust said, turning her gaze from the window to the newly awakened man.

"Where are we?" Devon moved himself into an upright position, eyeing Rust across the room from him.

"It's sanctuary. You lost consciousness before we brought you here." She replied.

"Not the cleanest, but it serves just as well." A second voice, the teleporter LeFay added.

Devon rested his head in his hands, he felt groggy, but he was alive. He looked at his sleeping brother, Tristan looked peaceful given the circumstances. He traced the room with his eyes before falling back onto Nathan, sleeping opposite Tristan.

"Oh, you're awake." A jolly voice called from the hallway behind them. The elderly man stepped into the room, pulled along by his cane.

"Good morning, Panacea." Rust said.

"Yes, you as well." Panacea replied, a smile on his face.

"Where's Black Diamond?" Rust asked, standing from her chair at the window.

"Asleep, you can join her now." He smiled. "She said we aren't leaving for another few hours, the two of you have time to rest."

"Thanks, old man." Lefay cut in, a cheeky sneer carved across her face. She followed behind Rust, who'd already made his way out of the room back to her beloved. The two walked in step to the back of the house.

"And how did you sleep, young man?" Panacea asked, turning his attention back to Devon. "You seemed relatively healthy, but you lost consciousness before you were brought here. I had to do some intense surgery." He chuckled.

"Surgery?" Devon knit his brow, before he noticed that his arm was responding to him.

"Yes, your arm was in terrible shape." He replied. "I wasn't able to fix it completely, your arm may never be the same. But I did the best I could."

"Oh that's right." Devon sighed, looking at his arm. Scarred but ultimately in one piece. "That woman crushed it."

"With my ability I was able to see the damage, bones broken and healed unset over the course of years." Panacea mused. "Muscles ripped, mended, ripped again. Whoever tried to patch your arm up the first time knew what evil they were inflicting."

"What? Years?" Devon was gobsmacked, the color drained from his face. "What are you saying?"

"It's not an exact science." Panacea explained. "My ability allows me to mend the human body, it's an exhilarating sensation." He chuckled. "I have a sixth sense about the internal workings of the body, I could tell by feeling your broken bones the rough time period the damage occurred."

"And you think it was years." Devon huffed. "We couldn't have been in that place for more than a month." He added, exasperated.

"Closer to four years. Maybe five." Panacea said plainly, moving to sit on the couch behind where the boys were laying.

"Four-" Devon sighed, turning to face the older man sitting behind him. "Four years?"

"I can't tell for certain." Panacea responded. "But that's what my ability tells me."

Devon inhaled deeply through his nostrils, blowing a heavy exhale out of his mouth. He couldn't let the panic overtake him now, they weren't done. They weren't home.

The silence crept in after, Devon let it hang. To think. He had to think about all the lost time, he couldn't comprehend the idea of having been held captive and experimented on for almost half a decade. Panacea resigned to what seemed to be his own inner world, happily humming to fill the silence - bobbing his head from side to side.

The pleasant humming was interrupted by the sound of labored breathing. Tristan began to become restless, tossing and twitching and turning. Groaning and whimpering, Tristan writhed before shooting up in a panic. He screamed himself awake.

"Tristan!" Devon called, reaching out to stabilize his brother.

"I-" Tristan heaved, trying to catch his breath. "I uh- it's nothing." He cut himself off, wiggling out of Devon's grip. It wasn't out of the question that the three of them would have nightmares after what they'd been through.

"We're safe." Devon said, looking into Tristan's eyes.

"Yeah, yeah-" Tristan sighed. "I got the whole story from the others."

"Thank you." Devon said, quietly. He might not have survived had it not been for Tristan.

"It's alright, Dev." Tristan said.

"No, thank you." He said emphatically. "I know you, Leonard and Jasper always resented me for making our lives what they were. You saved me."

Tristan was taken aback, maybe he didn't realize that Devon knew how he felt, but it seemed like it was coming out of nowhere. A profound sadness grew in his stomach, perhaps he was naive to think that Devon didn't notice how he felt about Devon's involvement of their mother's death, but he knew that it wasn't supposed to be that way. Tristan left because he didn't want to completely destroy his relationship with his brothers, how he blamed Devon for their mother's death and how angry he was when Jasper and Leonard told him that it was unfair of them to continue to treat Devon so poorly.

Before Tristan could respond, they were interrupted by a new noise. Nathan's silent form finally roused from unconsciousness, shattering the momentary peace. Nathan began coughing, blood spraying from his mouth and nose. Panacea moved to act, pulling himself from his sitting position and moving to the suffering man's side, followed by Devon and Tristan.

"What's happening?" Devon asked, his voice pained.

Panacea ignored him, focusing entirely on the pained man. Nathan was drifting in and out of lucidity, his breathing began to sound wet. Fluid getting into his lungs, his heaves bubbled loudly enough for even Devon and Tristan to hear.

"Nathan!" Devon called out, trying to pulled the other man back into consciousness.

"There is no need to yell." Panacea said, placing his hands on Nathan's chest. He could feel the sinews and fluids under the force of his ability. He did what he could, but there was a lot of damage done already. "I've done what I can." He finally said, Nathan settled under his touch, even opening his eyes slightly.

"Devon..." Nathan finally spoke, his voice hollow and weak. He searched through his hazy vision, finding the man he'd spent the last few years of abuse next to. The only person he still remembered.

"Nathan." Devon exhaled, moving to replace Panacea at Nathan's side. He grabbed Nathan's limp hand between his own.

"Young man, I'm sorry." Panacea said, a sorrow in his eyes. They glistened with wetness as he peered at Devon. "I can't do any more for him. He's going to die."

"What?" Devon's words felt swollen in his throat, tears welling up in his eyes. "What do you mean you can' do any more?"

"I can't recreate organs-"

"Devon, don't be upset." Nathan interrupted the old man, his voice peppered with the garbled noise of fluid on the lungs. "Don't go anywhere." He added, managing to crack a smile.

Devon frowned, holding back the approaching sobs, as he looked up to the sullen looking old man. His breathing became irregular, holding back the sobs. He always felt he was an ugly crier. The thought of losing another person for whom he cared about so deeply was devastating. Tears poured from his lids onto his cheeks, meeting under his chin.

"Devon, I'm sorry." Tristan said, moving to sit closer to his brother.

"I'm sorry I couldn't take you up on your offer." Nathan struggled to get the words out, but he did.

"Don't say that." Devon said, forcing a smile. "When we get back to America we'll go on the date I promised."

"You know that isn't true." Nathan said. He was resigned, he'd heard what Panacea had said, he was going to die.

"Panacea, please." Devon said, looking back to the elderly man, a desperate look in his eyes.

"Just-" Nathan struggled. "-thanks for being here."

Devon couldn't say anything, he couldn't find the words. He gripped Nathan's hand between his own, his skin was cold. Tears poured down his face, his eyes red from the work out. He choked back sobs, not looking away from Nathan, not breaking eye contact.

It was subtle, Nathan's breathing slowed. He smiled a weak smile and closed his eyes, and Devon could feel his grip weakening against his own hands. It was almost as if he were asleep, his slow breaths pulsed before slowing completely - he went limp.

Nathan was gone.

Devon couldn't hold it back, the ugly sobs exploding from him. He desperately clung to Nathan's cold hand, throwing himself onto his body. He wept into the hospital gown he'd been wearing, mumbling into his chest. Begging him to wake up.

"Young man-"

"No." Tristan said, interrupting Panacea, keeping him from pulling Devon away. "Let him." He added, Panacea nodded in agreement.

Devon carried Nathan out behind the house, followed by the rest of the Diamonds. He placed him gently on the ground with the help of Black Diamond, his tears still hadn't dried. He and Black Diamond retreated a few feet back to meet with every one else.

"Black Diamond-" Rust seemed to plead, her voice pained.

"We need to bury him." Devon spat out, trying to find his composure.

"We can't." Black Diamond said. "We can't bury our dead here, the Chelovecheskiy Sovet harvests them."

"We give them fire." Toxin said.

"We have to burn our dead or their bodies will go right back to them." Black Diamond growled. "I cannot let our people be treated this way even after death."

Devon frowned and looked back at Nathan's body. A send off in fire, he knew what he had to do. "I'll do it." He said.

"Dev, you don't have to do that." Tristan said.

"I need to." He answered back. "I don't want to be alone, though."

Tristan came, standing shoulder to shoulder with his brother as the two walked through the dead leaves to the place where Nathan's body had been placed. Devon knelt down, holding his brother's hand tightly with his own, and touched his other hand to Nathan's chest, just over his heart. The cloth of the funeral ground began to singe with embers, spreading out from Devon's palm.

With focus, Devon ignited Nathan's body, intense flames burning away everything that he used to be. The others looked away, but Devon couldn't. He gazed into the flames, feeling the heat of coming off what could have been a great love. He wouldn't forget what happened, he wouldn't forget Nathan. He couldn't.

"Goodbye, Nathan."


	14. Hell Hounds

"He's been quiet for a long time." Black Diamond said quietly, turning sorrowful eyes to Devon's older brother Tristan. The morning had been cool with no wind, they were able to leave Nathan's ashes on the ground without having to worry that would be blown away. "Is he alright?" She asked.

"We only met before we were kidnapped." Tristan said. "We've lost a lot, only Devon got to know Nathan." He continued. The two were standing back, watching Devon sit on the ground, his eyes not leaving Nathan's charred remains.

"When did it happen?" She asked.

"It's fuzzy, I don't remember." Tristan sighed. "Panacea it's been years, but all I remember is coming to Germany with my brothers, Jasper caused a bar fight and before we knew it we were surrounded by goons in black suits. That's all I remember."

"The Chelovecheskiy Sovet moved their operations further west out of Russian within the last decade. They believe themselves to be allies to humanity." Black Diamond explained. "Federov has developed something that basically lets him steal an atypicals abilities, it kills them."

"That bastard stole my brother's abilities?" Tristan grimaced, it wasn't enough that his brothers were murdered in cold blood, but their bodies were desecrated too? Fury knit itself across Tristan's brow. "He never said anything to me, not anything that I remember."

"This ability stealing technique he's developed is new, in the past he would just kill people like us. Or if he found someone that he could use as a body guard, screw around with their brains until they're his puppet." Black Diamond put her hand on Tristan's shoulder to comfort him. "The large woman who blocked our escaped, her name was-" She cut herself off. "-is, Alia. Her name is Alia."

"You knew her?" He wasn't entirely surprised.

"Alia was a founding member of the Diamonds, her atypical ability was...atypical." She smirked at the statement. "She didn't just have super strength."

"I don't understand." Tristan replied.

"All atypicals have unique physiology, it's why LeFay can't undergo hormone therapy, or why Panacea is our only medic. But Alia's atypical biology is so extreme-"

"That's why she's nearly eight feet tall and as wide as a brick shit-house?" Tristan interrupted.

"Yes." Black Diamond nodded. "Alia has the strongest super strength I've ever seen in an atypical, she is truly incredible."

"And she ended up a slave to these monsters?" Tristan asked.

"It was a raid similar to the one to get you and your brothers. They were crafty, rigged the facility to explode." She explained. "We thought we lost her, she was buried under the entire building."

"She wasn't powerful enough to get out?" Perhaps it was an insensitive question.

"We tried to dig her out, we figured that if she were alive, she would have been able to get out." Black Diamond sighed. "It's something I deeply regret, after weeks of returning to dig, I called off the search. It was only yesterday that I found out she survived."

"If she's a slave then I can't imagine it's much better than the alternative." Tristan said.

"Alia was a failed experiment." Devon spoke, finally, turning back from his watch over Nathan. "That's what Federov said at least."

"Failed experiment?" Black Diamond asked, walking to stand closer to Devon, Tristan in tow.

"That's why he kidnapped us, it was for Jasper's ability." He said plainly, this voice quiet.

"Devon, what do you mean? He was after Jasper?" Tristan frowned.

"That's what he said while he was torturing me." He continued. "He wanted his ability for something he was working on. Something to improve his 'pets'."

Black Diamond was speechless, the look of disgust stark across her sharpened features. Reflexively her sharpened form crept across her body, but she was at a loss for words.

"What does that mean?" Tristan asked.

"I don't know, Alia did what ever Federov asked her to do and when she didn't he did something to her." Devon struggled to remember. "It was enough to make her cut her own finger off."

"You don't have to keep talking." Black Diamond said sternly. "You've been through enough."

"Can I have something to put Nathan's ashes in?" Devon asked, turning his attention back to the pile of ash and bone on the ground in front of him.

"Already on it, Kid." LeFay called, coming to the backyard with a glass mason jar in hand. "I figured you might have wanted to take him with you."

"Thanks, LeFay." Devon said quietly, gingerly taking the jar from LeFay. He reached down with his bare hand and open jar, struggling to scoop up the ashes cleanly. He managed to get most of it, enough for him to not feel like he was leaving him behind.

The tender moment was soon interrupted, loud explosions shook the trees, echoing all the way to the Diamond's hide away. Devon gripped the mason jar of Nathan's ashes against his chest, moving closer to stand with Tristan and Black Diamond.

"LeFay, reconnaissance." Black Diamond commanded.

"No problem." She complied, instantly vanishing in a flash of light.

"If we've been found then we need to move, as soon as LeFay returns-" She started before being interrupted by another explosion.

"Something's coming!" LeFay called, falling out of a circle of light and struggling to stay upright. Her clothes were scorched, her wig missing.

"That was too fast, LeFay, are you alright?" Black Diamond looked pained, grabbing LeFay by her shoulders.

"I ported into an explosion." She coughed. "We need to go, there's three of them. One of them is blowing up the damn forest. They know where we are."

"Panacea! Toxin! Rust! Double time!" Black Diamond called out, holding up a weakened LeFay. She called for her Diamonds and they listened, the three remaining in the house rushed out the back door to meet their leader. "Panacea, I need you to heal LeFay so we can get out of here."

"Of course, Sharron." The old man said, grabbing LeFay to begin work.

"Rust, my beloved-" Black Diamond turned her attention to the others. "-I need you to do what you do best."

"Absolutely." Rust responded.

"Toxin, you'll help her." She added.

"Let's do it, then." Toxin nodded as he and Rust made their way around the side of the house to the front, where the enemies were drawing ever closer.

"Tristan, Devon, if whatever these attackers are gets past Toxin and Rust, you'll have to help me protect Panacea and LeFay so we can get out of here." Black Diamond said, being met with nods of confirmation from the two men.

"Her injuries aren't too severe." Panacea said, holding LeFay's head from laying on the ground. "Give me five minutes and she'll be transport ready."

In front of the house, Rust and Toxin stood, prepared to meet what ever force was coming for them. The explosions began to increase in frequency, it was three individuals approaching. Only three.

"Stand back, Toxin." Rust said, a crooked smile on her face. She knelt down slowly, lowering herself onto one knee and placing her palm onto the ground. The grass around her hand began to turn brown and die, rapidly spreading out in a crescent in front of the house. The grass died and withered away, and then the ground beneath began to rot and crumble away. Rot gave way to a fissure, a deep scar in the ground in front of the house, thirty feet wide and ten feet deep.

Toxin stepped up, conjuring something within himself. His stomach became distended, fluid filled his cheeks. He reached out, and pushed Rust back, to be sure that she didn't get caught up in what he was about to do. Toxin opened the floodgate, spraying brilliant green liquid from his open mouth and into the newly opened chasm. It only took him a few moments to produce enough poison to fill the hole like a moat.

"The most caustic stuff I could whip up." Toxin said, wiping residual fluid from his mouth.

"Think it'll be enough?" Rust asked, standing up.

"This should be acidic enough to rend a person down to their bones in a matter of seconds." Toxin gloated. "Nobody's getting across."

"You veshch have disrupted my work for the last time." It was Federov's voice. It wasn't Federov. The posse of three strangers approached the edge of the toxic moat, all wearing masks, marked one, two and three, spoke with Federov's voice. "Shall I introduce you to my greatest work?"

Toxin and Rust stood their ground, not responding to the attempts to get them to talk. Rust was prepared to kill, toxin was right with her. The middle stranger stepped forward, dressed head to toe in leather. He reached up to grab his mask, his movements weren't human, stiff and rigid. He pulled the mask off, revealing a gaunt face. It looked as if he were dead.

"Now, I will leave you with my new hounds, my Hell Hounds." The middle one said with Federov's voice.

"Federov will have his subjects returned, or kill." The number two masked man said, this time his voice was not that of Federov's but his own.

"Kill them, they are not the targets." The unmasked man said, this time also with his own voice. How ever Federov was communicating through these men, he had ceased. The masked man marked two stepped forward and moved his mask from over his mouth, revealing burned lips. He acted with impunity, spitting onto the ground in front of them, something in his saliva causing sizeable explosions.

The shockwaves from the explosion upended the moat of acid, spraying it over the front yard and splashing it toward Rust and Toxin. Toxin was immune to whatever he produced, Rust wasn't. He grabbed Rust by the arm and pulled her in, turning his back to the spray to shield her. The acid poured past them, rolling off Toxin as harmlessly as water.

When the air cleared, Toxin and Rust prepared for a counter attack, only to find that in the chaos, the third assailant was missing.

"They're hiding their transportation in the back." The maskless one said, he somehow knew.

"How did they know that?" Toxin grumbled as he began to whip up another round of something to protect them.

"A mind reader, I guess. If I'm right, it's how Federov is communicating with these people." Rust said, noting that the third mask was gone. "If we turn our back to these guys, number two there is going to blow us up."

"I believe in your wife." Toxin said, reassuring Rust.

"I do too." She said with a knowing smile.

"Sharron, look out!" Panacea said, the number three masked man leaping to attack her from behind.

He flipped up, bringing an elbow down, a quick and decisive take-down. Black Diamond in her diamond form was already in a perfect defensive situation, she turned to face her assailant, bracing against the attack with her arms. The man's elbow scraped past Diamond's hardened defense, but the impact pulled her arms down, throwing her off balance.

Devon lashed out, throwing a condensed ball of fiery plasma over Black Diamond's head as she stumbled forward. Number three jumped back, letting the fire attack pass by him but giving Black Diamond enough birth to regain her footing.

"His strike was much stronger than he looks." She explained, backing up to stand in front of Panacea. "It seems his ability is the ability to control weight. He's using it to increase the power of his strikes."

"Deductive." The number three said, smiling behind his mask. Without any more words he leapt into action again, running up on Black Diamond. He moved to attack again, leaping and dropping a heavy foot down onto Black Diamond. She defended again. Number Three's clothing tore against Diamond's sharpened skin, but the weight of his kick was severe. Black Diamond's feet began to sink into the ground, but Tristan ran in.

He clenched his fist and landed a solid blow into the assailant's chest, it caught him off guard and didn't allow him time to increase his weight to hold his position. Number three fell back, but quickly regained his composure.

"Why didn't you use your ability?" Black Diamond quietly asked, pulling her feet out of the dirt.

"I did." He protested.

"Sure." She replied, she knew he was lying. Why wasn't he using his ability, it was so similar to hers.

Number three ran at them again, lightening himself to increase his speed. He intended to speed blitz them, crush them with the weight of his strikes. He lowered himself, and rammed his shoulder into Tristan's stomach, taking advantage of his non-active ability. Tristan was knocked off his feet and he slid across the grass, coming to rest several feet back.

Viscous acid sprayed over Black Diamond, separating her and the others from the assailant. Number Three jumped back, avoiding the caustic material.

"We need to go!" Rust called, she and Toxin running around to the back of the house. "Panacea, is LeFay okay?"

"I'm almost done." Panacea responded.

Toxin spit another mass of acid at the assailant, the fluid splashing over Black Diamond and pushing the man even further back. The acid sprayed in his face, damaging his mask - he tore the mask off to prevent it from spreading to his face.

"L-Leo?" Devon couldn't believe what he was seeing. He looked gaunt and unwell, but it was without a doubt the eldest Valentine brother. Flames began catching on dried leaves from embers sparking off of his body.

"Leonard? I don't understand." Tristan coughed out, struggling to lift himself to his feet.

"My name is Three." He responded. "I don't know who Leonard is."

"You were dead, he told me you were dead." Devon said through a clenched jaw, he gripped the jar of Nathan's ashes close to his chest.

"Devon, he wasn't in the facility when Black Diamond broke us out." Tristan said, straining to stand up next to his brother. "Federov was lying."

"I'm here to tie up Doctor Federov's loose ends." Three said.

"Your friends are dead." Toxin said with a snarl. "They were easy to melt."

"Shame." Three said. "Doctor Federov gave them abilities that were supposed to help our mission, he will be upset when he discovers they failed."

"You'll join them." Toxin interjected, preparing a follow up acid attack.

"Wait, don't!" Devon pleaded.

"Why not?" Black Diamond asked with a grimace.

"He's our brother." He answered, pained. The rest of the Diamonds looked on in shock. Was this what Federov meant to do?

"You mentioned he wanted your brother Jasper's ability?" Black Diamond asked. "What was it?"

"He could make people act on their base instincts by taking away their inhibition." Tristan explained. "I don't know if he would have ever been able to control it but it turned people around him into wild assholes."

"That was Federov's final piece." Black Diamond gasped, horrified. "If he was looking for a way to make perfect slaves out of us, taking away an atypical's inhibitions is the perfect way to do it."

"Monsters, all of them." Rust sneered.

"Sorry to interrupt." Three said, jumping in for another attack. "You all have to die, it is Doctor Federov's will." He added, dropping another axe kick down on Devon. He moved out of the way as best he could, the jar of ashes dropped from his hands and landing on the ground.

The fires around Devon raged, exploding upward and swirling into a firestorm. Three, caught in the flames, fell backward, retreating from the heat. Devon desperately fell to the ground, grabbing for the jar he'd dropped, picking it up and clutching it tightly.

"I've had enough of this shit." It was LeFay, with Panacea's help she'd managed to find the energy and will to stand back up. "Tell Federov he failed. Again." She berated. She quickly cast her teleportation circle around the group. A bright flash sphere of light surrounded them, and they were gone. Three ran in to attack and stop them from leaving, but he was too late, the Diamonds escaped.

Three, dejected, returned to the front of the house where he discovered One and Two. Toxin wasn't lying, they were dead. Rust and Toxin's abilities were dangerous indeed. One and Two's bodies were eroded, nothing left from the waist down. Luckily for Three and for Federov, their brains were still in tact.

"Three, this was a successful test run." The corpse of One said, it spoke in Federov's voice. "Retrieve One and Two's bodies and bring them too me."

"Yes, Doctor." Three replied, collecting the remains of the other two hounds.

"You're handy to have around, LeFay." Tristan said, his voice tired. The group appeared on a private dock, a hidden alcove for the Diamond's personal use. A speedboat docked for travel between the island and the mainland.

"Why a boat?" Devon asked. "You have an amazing ability, LeFay, why would you guys need a boat?"

"I can't carry a lot of people long distances." She explained, rolling her eyes. "I'm not a taxi."

The seven atypicals boarded the speedboat, an set sail for the mainland. Black Diamond started the engine, and pushed off the dock.

"We'll get back to the mainland, where we can book you a flight back to your home." Black Diamond said, she couldn't help but feel a little relieved. Panacea returned to his treatment of LeFay, to make sure that she wasn't overclocking her ability, and to Tristan who'd sustained a serious blunt trauma in the fight.

"Thank you, guys." Devon said quietly, not taking his eyes from the jar of ashes in his lap.


	15. In Safety

"That sounded like a harrowing experience, Devon." Joan Bright was horrified at what she'd heard. She knew that underground atypical groups could be violent, and that organizations like the AM were responsible for horrifying human rights violations. She spent her life trying to make atypical lives better, it was rare for a situation to devolve into horrific violence.

"It was." Devon sighed. He didn't know that he could ever be far enough away from everything that happened for it to not feel harrowing.

"What happened after that?" She asked. "You fled the island on a speed boat with the other atypicals, was that the end of it?"

"When we got back to the mainland they sent us on a flight back to the states." Devon sighed. "We traveled with an underground atypical group when we got back, they new how to get around without drawing attention to ourselves."

"It's my understanding that you and your brother were apprehended alone, were you separated from these other atypicals?" It was next to impossible for any of the governmental organizations to effectively track the underground atypical groups in any meaningful way. If Devon and his brother were with them, he shouldn't have been found.

"Black Diamond hooked us up with a group in Texas, they focused on taking in atypicals who's abilities were defective. My fire hasn't been the same since we left that island, I figured it was an easy choice." Devon explained. "We spent some time with them, trying to regulate my ability, watching others try to regulate theirs."

"Were they effective?" Joan asked.

"I wasn't there long enough to see." Devon sighed. "I met a man around my age, maybe a little older, whose ability didn't work at all anymore. They seemed to help him."

"Oh?" Joan was surprised, she raised her brow in curiosity, her interest piqued.

"He told me he'd been attacked, his brain healed over his ability and he couldn't do it anymore." Devon explained. "Called himself Damien, a little on the nose."

"I'm sorry?" Joan was caught off guard. "Did you say his name was Damien?"

"Why?"

"Just an interesting name." Joan corrected herself. "Did he tell you what his ability was?"

"No, I didn't ask. But he did say that he felt it coming back, so that sounds like something." Devon nodded.

"Right." Joan sighed. Even hearing the name put her on edge, but he was out of their lives and he'd been out of their lives for almost a year now. "But you left before you could get any help?"

"Tristan was worried." Devon explained. "He was paranoid after what happened, he thought that spending too much time with groups like that would bring attention to us. He wasn't wrong."

"So you left." Joan nodded.

"We went west, there are a lot of people in California, Tristan figured we could blend in there." Devon said. "He had connections there, he was a pretty successful boxer before all this happened."

"I take it it didn't work out." Joan said.

"By the time we got to LA, my powers were so incontinent that I was practically on fire all the time. It didn't take long for the AM to take notice." Devon explained. "Tristan refused to use his ability, I ended up needing to protect him most of the time, that's when the AM descended. They surrounded us in an alley, men in suits."

"Just like in Germany." Joan said, realizing what that must have been like. "That must have been unpleasant, to relive something so traumatizing."

"It was. I couldn't let us go through what we'd been through already, so I had to defend us." Devon sighed. "I nearly melted an entire city block, but couldn't manage to hurt any of the men. I don't know if it was my power not working right or what, but it didn't take them much to arrest us after that."

"I'm truly sorry you were made to go through that." Joan said. "And I know that I've said it before, and I don't know that it will ever be enough. I'm trying my hardest, this whole facility is trying, to right the wrongs that the AM has inflicted on atypicals like you."

"It wasn't just the AM." Devon said with a half smile. "The facility in california was more or less just a prison, it wasn't anything like the facility on Radost Island."

"I hope that someday we can stop those people too." Joan sighed. "This isn't about me, and I wouldn't normally bring up something personal during a therapy session, but I've lost too much to not try."

"I'd heard the previous director was murdered." Devon said plainly. "Did you know him?"

"Yes." Joan responded frankly, though there was a weakness in her voice. She didn't want to talk about it, still. Especially not with a patient. "But we shouldn't be talking about this."

"Right." Devon nodded. "Of course, sorry."

"But let's get back to you, have some time left in this session and then you have a few hours before you have any classes scheduled. Do you have any questions for me? Anything you want to talk about before we revisit some of these things in your next session?" Joan asked.

"Uh, no, I don't think I do." Devon nodded, he wasn't sure he had anything else to bring up, this session had been particularly straining.

Joan nodded and smiled, motioning for Devon to follow her as she stood from her chair. She left the room with Devon in tow, as they had the past couple of days. The difference this time was Devon's new sense of lightness. He'd been relieved of the heaviness weighing on his over the past couple years, even if only a little bit. As the two returned to the atrium, she released him back on his own.

"You're free for the rest of the day, Devon, you know where to find me if you need me." Joan said. "Spend the day in your new room, or maybe drop in on an ability workshop."

"Will Tristan have sessions with you?" Devon asked. "I know you might not be allowed to tell me, but he could use the help, and you aren't so bad at what you do." He chuckled.

"Thank you." She said almost sarcastically. "Your brother has a session with me tomorrow, you don't need to worry." She added.

"We are looking for an atypical named Devon Valentine." The voice could be heard in the atrium at the front desk, Joan didn't recognize the man's voice as an employee or any regular visitor to the facility.

"Stay here, Devon." Joan said, motioning for Devon to not follow her. "I am Director Bright, is there something I can help you with?" She called authoritatively, approaching the pair at the front desk.

"The Director? Good. My name is Sharron Garza." The woman said. "And this is Janus Stoneback."

"Black Diamond? Toxin?" Devon saw the pair from across the lobby, he couldn't believe his eyes. It'd been a few months, but he hadn't expected to ever see any of them again.

"Black Diamond and Toxin?" Joan repeated, looking back to Devon. "The ones who helped you escape your captors?"

"The very same." Toxin said with a cheeky grin.

"What are you two doing here? Is it safe for you to be here?" Devon asked, he was completely gobsmacked.

"We operate here in the states too." Black Diamond nodded. "And the AM here has files on us, we aren't fugitives from the law."

"After we heard you and Tristan were apprehended, we had to come help." Toxin explained. "But from what we know about the Boston AM, they're at least trying."

"A lot of horrific things happened here, Mr. Stoneback, we're doing our best to make it right." Joan nodded.

"These people helped me and Tristan, they saved our lives." Devon said, looking at Joan. "Doctor Bright, is it alright Toxin and Black Diamond come back to my room so we can talk? I'd like to catch up."

"Of course." Joan nodded. "And I would like to talk to the two of them as Director, if that's alright with you." She said, turning to the pair. "You have more information on this Chelovecheskiy Sovet and I think it's important that I have it. Especially after what I'd learned from Devon."

Toxin and Black Diamond turned to look at Devon with suspicion. Devon nodded back at them.

"She's trustworthy." Devon said. "You can maybe help fill in any holes I didn't have."

"Yes, that sounds reasonable." Black Diamond said.

"In the mean time, the three of you can get lunch in our commissary, or socialize in Devon's room. It doesn't particularly matter so long as Devon remains on the grounds." Joan nodded.

It was a new room, Devon had destroyed his previous room with fire the night before, furnished with fire retardant cloth items and furniture. Devon led the pair back to his room and sat down on the bed, the pair following behind. Black Diamond sat down on the chair, Toxin stood.

"I didn't know your name was Janus." Devon said.

"The Diamonds don't like to use our citizen names while we're working." Black Diamond said. "But the AM already knows our names so I don't think it will hurt anything. I'm Sharron Garza."

"And I'm Janus Stoneback." Toxin chuckled. "It's a pleasure to officially meet you." He joked.

"And I'm Devon Valentine." Devon said with a chuckle. "But you knew that. But I know you didn't come here to exchange pleasantries."

"Well, no." Toxin said. "We were concerned about you and Tristan, that isn't a lie. Sharron and I volunteered to make the trip."

"We've kept our ears to the ground, ever since we moved the Diamonds out of the Radost area, Federov has been quiet. He's gone underground." Black Diamond said.

"Is that a good or bad thing?" Devon asked, crossing his arms. A defensive posture, being forced to remember all the horrible shit he'd gone through, it was a lot. He didn't feel the expansive pressure in his chest as much at the thought of it, but it still gripped him.

"We don't know." Toxin frowned.

"Before he disappeared our spies in his organization reported that his new hounds almost seem like they have free will." Black Diamond explained. "They aren't slow and unresponsive like his old work, like Alia. His new hounds behave almost like normal people, except they're fanatically loyal to him."

"Leonard." Devon said quietly to himself.

"Yes, like your brother Leonard." Black Diamond sighed.

"I don't understand though, his ability wasn't weight manipulation." Devon said. "Leonard had the ability to cast illusions."

"I don't think that mattered to Federov." Toxin said. "It appears he's developed a way to not only steal abilities, but to give them to other people. Swiss Army atypical hounds."

"I need to get him. We need to save him." Devon said.

"If he's able to be save, we'll do it." Black Diamond said. "I failed Alia, I failed our people, if I can save Leonard, I'm going to do it."

"Oh, before we forget-" Toxin said after Devon let the silence hang in the room for a few moments. "-we brought you something."

"Brought me something?" Devon asked.

"Here." Toxin reached into Black Diamond's purse. She didn't really carry a purse, but they knew the security wouldn't search her purse if she had one. He produced a decorative urn, small and terracotta in color.

"Is that-?" Devon's eyes welled up.

"We know you lost him in the transfer, we knew you'd want to keep him." Toxin said, a half smile across his face. He handed the small urn over to Devon, and he gingerly took it, gently pressing it against himself.

"Thank you." Devon said quietly, looking down at the urn. "You got him a nice urn." He added, a sparse few tears rolling down his cheeks. He silently placed the urn on the table next to his bed. "You didn't have to do this."

"I know, but we did." Toxin said.

"Be nice." Black Diamond corrected him.

"I'm sure Tristan will wanna know you guys are here." Devon finally said.

"Were you two taken here together?" Black Diamond asked.

"No, we were separated in California." Devon said. "Before Doctor Bright got me transferred here, I was being held in California and Tristan was moved to a facility in Ohio. I guess for atypicals who can't use their abilities anymore."

"He still hasn't used his ability?" Black Diamond asked.

"He refuses to, ever since the cabin back in Radost." Devon explained.

"His ability may have been damaged while in custody, or it hurts to use now - regardless, hopefully this place can help." She said.

"Doctor Bright got him transferred here." Devon explained. "He doesn't feel much safer here, but I hope he'll be alright."

"We're here to help, Devon." Black Diamond said. "And if you trust the AM to help too, we'll trust them as well."

"I don't know if they truly can help, but there are people here who care. Even the atypicals who work here." Devon sighed. "It's odd seeing atypicals working freely here and not working to destroy their own kind."

"Yeah, I think it's new even for the AM." Toxin said.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door, Devon wasn't sure who it might've been. He had no other obligations that day, so the staff should be leaving him alone unless it's an emergency. He pushed himself off the bed and slowly approached the door, slowly turning the knob and pulling. It was Tristan.

"The Director told me you guys were here." Tristan huffed. He was surprised to see the two as well. "I never expected to see the two of you here."

"We came to see you, genius." Toxin grimaced.

"Why only the two of you?" Tristan asked, stepping into Devon's room.

"We needed leadership back in Europe, I wouldn't trust it to anybody other than Rust." Black Diamond explained. "Plus, if something were to go down, I'm immune to Toxin's ability so we're compatible in a fight."

"There's less need for a fight here in the states, but you can never be too sure." Toxin added.

"We should go." Black Diamond said, looking to Toxin. "We'll be in the city for at least the next few weeks, but there are some things we need to look in to."

"You should give us a call if you need anything, or you just need a friend to talk to." Toxin said, producing a business card from his jacket and handing it to Devon.

"Don't be a stranger." Black Diamond said, turning to leave the room.

"Give our number to your Director too, she said she wanted to talk about Federov." Toxin added, giving another card to Tristan.

"Bye guys." Devon said, waving. Black Diamond and Toxin walked out, dipping past Tristan in the door way and making their way back to the lobby of the building.

"Are you okay?" Tristan asked.

"Yeah, I will be." Devon nodded. "It was nice to see them, even if seeing them brought it all back."

"We'll get through this, Devon." Tristan half-smiled.

"I know we will. We have to." He smiled back. "I'm just happy that we're safe."

________________________

"The Diamonds were always sloppy." An ominous voice poured from behind the back of a large chair. "Interfering with my work is one thing, but these people always leave a trail."

"Isn't that how you were able to track them so efficiently, Doctor Federov?" The masked man said. A sycophant, perhaps not of his own free will, however.

"Of course, Three, do not be ridiculous." Federov peaked around the back of his chair, his dried out burnt skin illuminated by the fireplace fire. "With the ability to sense atypicals, it was easy an easy task to track their little teleporter."

"Brilliant." Three commended.

"Now, do as your master commands, find the Valentines. I refuse to leave this loose end untied." Federov sneered. "Kill them."

"Yes, Doctor Federov." Three said, immediately departing. He walked through a door to the outside, removing his three mask and revealing his gaunt visage. The sun illuminated his sallow skin as he looked out over the balcony, examining the city. Three stepped onto the balcony, and stepped right off, plummeting toward the sidewalk below.

Most people didn't seem to notice, he lightened himself so that when he hit the ground it didn't harm him. He ignored those who seemed to be concerned about his fall. It didn't matter to him. Three walked with purpose, though he wasn't sure of where things were in the city. Given what his face looked like, he couldn't hold the attention of a person enough to get them to talk to him.

Finally, a crossing guard noticed that he was bugging people on the street and approached him. Three smiled, his dehydrated skin stretching into a smile across his bony face.

"Excuse me, sir. Can you tell me how to get to the AM?"


End file.
